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LIBER XXX AERUM
VEL SAECVLI
SVB FIGVRA
CCCCXVIII
BEING OF THE ANGELS OF THE 30 AETHYRS
THE VISION AND THE VOICE
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THE VISION AND THE VOICE
THE CRY OF THE THIRTIETH OR INMOST AIRE OR AETHYR,
WHICH IS CALLED TEX
I AM in a vast crystal cube in the form of the Great God Harpocrates. This
cube is surrounded by a sphere. About me are four archangels in black robes,
their wings and armour lined out in white.
In the North is a book on whose back and front are A.M.B.Z. in Enochian
characters.
Within it is written:
I AM, the surrounding of the four.
Lift up your heads, O Houses of Eternity: for my Father goeth forth to
judge the World. One Light, let it become a thousand, and one sword ten
thousand, that no man hide him from my Father's eye in the Day of Judgment of
my God. Let the Gods hide themselves: let the Angels be troubled and flee
away: for the Eye of My Father is open, and the Book of the Aeons is fallen.
Arise! Arise! Arise! Let the Light of the Sight of Time be extinguished:
let the Darkness cover all things: for my Father goeth forth to seek a spouse
to replace her who is fallen and defiled.
Seal the book with the seals of the Stars Concealed: for {3} the Rivers
have rushed together and the Name HB:Heh HB:Vau HB:Heh HB:Yod is broken in a thousand
pieces (against the Cubic Stone).
Tremble ye, O Pillars of the Universe, for Eternity is in travail of a
Terrible Child; she shall bring forth an universe of Darkness, whence shall
leap forth a spark that shall put his father to flight.
The Obelisks are broken; the stars have rushed together: the Light hath
plunged into the Abyss: the Heavens are mixed with Hell.
My Father shall not hear their Noise: His ears are closed: His eyes are
covered with the clouds of Night.
The End! the End! the End: For the Eye of Shiva He hath opened: the
Universe is naked before Him: for the Aeon of Saturn leaneth toward the Bosom
of Death.
{Illustration on page 4 described:
This is an isosceles triangle with height about 7 times the base. It
extends with base on a true vertical from the left. A line extends vertically
upward from the apex, equal to the length of the base. A trefoliate of three
isosceles triangles of base slightly smaller than the first triangle and sides
equal to the first triangle is created at the upper tip of the line. The tree
component triangles of the terfolate meet the upper tip of the line with their
apices --- one vertically and two to right and left.}
The Angel of the East hath a book of red written in letters of Blue
A.B.F.M.A. in Enochian. The Book grows before my eyes and filleth the Whole
Heaven.
Within: "It is Written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord Thy God."
I see above the Book a multitude of white-robed Ones from whom droppeth a
great rain of Blood; but above them is a Golden Sun, having an eye, whence a
great Light.
I turned me to the South: and read therein:
Seal up the Book! Speak not that which thou seest and {4} reveal it unto
none: for the ear is not framed that shall hear it: nor the tongue that can
speak it!
O Lord God, blessed, blessed, blessed be Thou for ever!
Thy Shadow is as great Light.
Thy Name is as the Breath of Love across all Worlds.
{Illustration on page 5 approximated:
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}
(A vast Svastika is shewn unto me behind the Angel with the Book.)
Rend your garments, O ye clouds! Uncover yourselves! for the Love of My
Son!
Who are they that trouble thee?
Who are they that slew thee?
O Light! Come thou, who art joined with me to bruise the Dragon's head.
We, who are wedded, and the Earth perceiveth it not!
O that Our Bed were seen of Men, that they might rejoice in My Fertility:
that My Sister might partake of My Great Light.
O Light of God, when wilt thou find the heart of man --- write not! I
would not that men know the Sorrow of my Heart, Amen!
I turned me to the West, and the Archangel bore a flaming Book, on which
was written AN in Enochian. Within was drawn a fiery scorpion, yet cold
withal.
Until the Book of the East be opened!
Until the hour sound! {5}
Until the Voice vibrate!
Until it pierce my Depth;
Look not on High!
Look not Beneath!
For thou wilt find a life which is as Death: or a Death which should be
infinite.
For Thou art submitted to the Four: Five thou shalt find, but Seven is lone
and far.
O Lord God, let Thy Spirit hither unto me!
For I am lost in the night of infinite pain: no hope: no God: no
resurrection: no end: I fall: I fear.
O Saviour of the World, bruise Thou my Head with Thy foot to save the
world, that once again I touch Him whom I slew, that in my death I feel the
radiance and the heat of the moving of Thy Robes!
Let us alone! What have we to do with Thee, Thou Jesus of Nazareth?
Go! Go!
If I keep silence --- Or if I speak each word is anguish without hope.
And I heard the Aethyr cry aloud "Return! Return! Return! For the work
is ended; and the Book is shut; and let the glory be to God the Blessed for
ever in the Aeons, Amen." Thus far is the voice of TEX and no more.
THE CRY OF THE TWENTY AND NINTH AIRE OR AETHYR,
WHICH IS CALLED RII
The sky appears covered with stars of gold; the background is of green.
But the impression is also of darkness. {6}
An immense eagle-angel is before me. His wings seem to hide all the
Heaven.
He cried aloud saying: The Voice of the Lord upon the Waters: the Terror
of God upon Mankind. The voice of the Lord maketh the Skies to tremble: the
Stars are troubled: the Aires fall. The First Voice Speaketh and saith:
Cursed, cursed be the Earth, for her iniquity is great. Oh Lord! Let Thy
Mercy be lost in the great Deep! Open thine eyes of Flame and Light, O God,
upon the wicked! Lighten thine Eyes! The Clamour of Thy Voice, let it smite
down the Mountains!
Let us not see it! Cover we our eyes, lest we see the End of Man.
Close we our ears, lest we hear the cry of Woman.
Let none speak of it: let none write it: I, I am troubled, my eyes are
moist with dews of terror: surely the Bitterness of Death is past.
And I turned me to the South and lo! a great lion as wounded and perplexed.
He cried: I have conquered! Let the Sons of Earth keep silence; for my
Name is become as That of Death!
When will men learn the Mysteries of Creation?
How much more those of the Dissolution (and the Pang of Fire)?
I turned me to the West and there was a great Bull; White with horns of
White and Black and Gold. His mouth was scarlet and his eyes as Sapphire
stones. With a great sword he shore the skies asunder, and amid the silver
flashes of the steel grew lightnings and deep clouds of Indigo. {7}
He spake: It is finished! My mother hath unveiled herself!
My sister hath violated herself! The life of things hath disclosed its
Mystery.
The work of the Moon is done! Motion is ended for ever!
Clipped are the eagle's wings: but my Shoulders have not lost their
strength.
I heard a Great Voice from above crying: Thou liest! For the Volatile
hath indeed fixed itself; but it hath arisen above thy sight. The World is
desert: but the Abodes of the House of my Father are peopled; and His Throne
is crusted over with white Brilliant Stars, a lustre of bright gems.
In the North is a Man upon a Great Horse, having a Scourge and Balances in
his hand (or a long spear glitters at his back or in his hand). He is clothed
in black velvet and his face is stern and terrible.
He spake saying: I have judged! It is the end: the gate of the beginning.
Look in the Beneath and thou shalt see a new world!
I looked and saw a great abyss and a dark funnel of whirling waters or
fixed airs, wherein were cities and monsters and trees and atoms and mountains
and little flames (being souls) and all the material of an universe.
And all are sucked down one by one, as necessity hath ordained. For below
is a glittering jewelled globe of gold and azure, set in a World of Stars.
And there came a Voice from the Abyss, saying: "Thou seest the Current of
Destiny! Canst thou change one atom in {8} its path? I am Destiny. Dost
thou think to control me? for who can move my course?"
And there falleth a thunderbolt therein: a catastrophe of explosion: and
all is shattered. And I saw above me a Vast Arm reach down, dark and
terrible, and a voice cried: I AM ETERNITY.
And a great mingled cry arose: "No! no! no! All is changed; all is
confounded; naught is ordered: the white is stained with blood: the black is
kissed of the Christ! Return! Return! It is a new chaos that thou findest
here: chaos for thee: for us it is the skeleton of a New Truth!"
I said: Tell me this truth: for I have conjured ye by the Mighty Names of
God, the which ye cannot but obey.
The voice said:
Light is consumed as a child in the Womb of its Mother to develop itself
anew. But pain and sorrow infinite, and darkness are invoked. For this child
riseth up within his Mother and doth crucify himself within her bosom. He
extendeth his arms in the arms of his Mother and the Light becometh fivefold1.
Lux in Luce,
Christus in Cruce;
Deo Duce
Sempiterno.
And be the glory for ever and ever unto the Most High God, Amen!
Then I returned within my body, giving glory unto the Lord of Light and of
the Darkness. In Saecula Saeculorum. Amen!
(On composing myself to sleep, I was shewn an extremely brilliant HB:Dalet in
the Character of the Passing of the River, in an egg of white light. And I
take this as the best of Omens. The letter was extremely vivid and indeed
apparently physical. Almost a Dhyana.)
"November 17, 1900, Die."
A NOTE
Concerning the thirty Aethyrs:
The Visions of the 29th and 30th Aethyrs were given to me in Mexico in
August, 1900, and I am now (23.11.9) trying to get the rest. It is to be
remarked that the last three aethyrs have ten angels attributed to them, and
they therefore represent the ten Sephiroth. Yet these ten form but one, a
Malkuth-pendant to the next three, and so on, each set being, as it were,
absorbed in the higher. The last set consists, therefore, of the first three
aethyrs with the remaining twenty-seven as their Malkuth. And the letters of
the first three aethyrs are the key-sigils of the most exalted interpretation
of the Sephiroth.
I is therefore Kether;
L, Chokmah and Binah;
A, Chesed;
N, Geburah; {10}
R, Tiphereth;
Z, Netzach;
N, Hod;
O, Jesod.
The geomantic correspondences of the Enochian alphabet form a sublime
commentary.
Note that the total angels of the aethyrs are 91, the numeration of Amen.
The Cry of the 28th Aethyr, Which is Called BAG
There cometh an Angel into the stone with opalescent shining garments like
a wheel of fire on every side of him, and in his hand is a long flail of
1 The LVX Cross hidden in the Svastika is probably the Arcanum
here connoted.
Svastika itself adds to 231 = 0 + 1 + 2 + ... + 21, the 21
Keys. The cubical Svastika regarded as composed of this LVX
Cross and the arms has a total of 78 Faces --- Tarot and Mezla.
scarlet lightning; his face is black, and his eyes white without any pupil or
iris. The face is very terrible indeed to look upon. Now in front of him is
a wheel, with many spokes, and many tyres; it is like a fence in front of him.
And he cries: O man, who art thou that wouldst penetrate the Mystery? for
it is hidden unto the End of Time.
And I answer him: Time is not, save in the darkness of Her womb by whom
evil came.
And now the wheel breaks away, and I see him as he is. His garment is
black beneath the opal veils, but it is lined with white, and he has the
shining belly of a fish, and enormous wings of black and white feathers, and
innumerable little legs and claws like a centipede, and a long tail like a
scorpion. The breasts are human, but they are all scored with blood; and he
cries: O thou who hast broken down the veil, knowest thou not that who cometh
where I am must be scarred by many sorrows? {11}
And I answer him: Sorrow is not, save in the darkness of the womb of Her by
whom came evil.
I pierce the Mystery of his breast, and therein is a jewel. It is a
sapphire as great as an ostrich egg, and thereon is graven this sigil:
{Illustration on page 12 described:
This is in the form of two "U" shapes, very elongated in the risers. The
one to the right is lower than the first, and its left riser extends 2/3's of
the way up inside the center of the one to the left. The left "U" turns back
down to the far left, ending 1/5th the way down in a tiny circle. The right
bends abruptly horizontally left across the other and also ends there in a
tiny circle.}
But there is also much writing on the stone, very minute characters carved.
I cannot read them. He points with his flail to the sapphire, which is now
outside him and bigger than himself; and he cries: Hail! warden of the Gates
of Eternity who knowest not thy right hand from thy left; for in the aeon of
my Father is a god with clasped hands wherein he holdeth the universe,
crushing it into the dust that ye call stars.
Hail unto thee who knowest not thy right eye from thy left; for in the aeon
of my Father there is but one light.
Hail unto thee who knowest not thy right nostril from thy left; for in the
aeon of my Father there is neither life nor death.
Hail unto thee who knowest not thy right ear from thy left; for in the aeon
of my Father there is neither sound nor silence.
Whoso hath power to break open this sapphire stone shall find therein four
elephants having tusks of mother-of-pearl, and upon whose backs are castles,
those castles which ye call the watch-towers of the Universe.
Let me dwell in peace within the breast of the Angel that is warden of the
aethyr. Let not the shame of my Mother be {12} unveiled. Let not her be put
to shame that lieth among the lilies that are beyond the stars.
O man, that must ever be opening, when wilt thou learn to seal up the
mysteries of the creation? to fold thyself over thyself as a rose in the
embrace of night? But thou must play the wanton to the sun, and the wind must
tear thy petals from thee, and the bee must rob thee of thy honey, and thou
must fall into the dusk of things. Amen and Amen.
Verily the light is hidden, therefore he who hideth himself is like unto
the light; but thou openest thyself; thou art like unto the darkness that
bindeth the belly of the great goddess2.
OLAHO VIRUDEN MAHORELA ZODIREDA! ON PIREDA EXENTASER; ARBA PIRE GAH GAHA
GAHAL GAHALANA VO ABRA NA GAHA VELUCORSAPAX.
2 In the light of the cry of LOE, this passage seems to mean
precisely the
opposite of its apparent meaning.
And the voice of the aeon cried: Return, return, return! the time
sickeneth, and the space gapeth, and the voice of him that is, was and shall
be crowned rattles in the throat of the mighty dragon of eld. Thou canst not
pass by me, except thou have the mystery of the word of the abyss.
Now the angel putteth back the sapphire stone into his breast; and I spake
unto him and said, I will fight with thee and overcome thee, except thou
expound unto me the word of the abyss.
Now he makes as if to fight with me. (It is very horrible, all the
tentacles moving and the flail flashing, and the fierce {13} eyeless face,
strained and swollen. And with the Magic sword I pierce through his armour to
his breast. He fell back, saying: Each of these my scars was thus made, for I
am the warden of the aethyr. And he would have said more; but I cut him
short, saying: expound the word of the Abyss. And he said: Discipline is
sorrowful and ploughing is laborious and age is weariness.
Thou shalt be vexed by dispersion.
But now, if the sun arise, fold thou thine arms; then shall God smite thee
into a pillar of salt.
Look not so deeply into words and letters; for this Mystery hath been
hidden by the Alchemists. Compose the sevenfold into a fourfold regimen; and
when thou hast understood thou mayest make symbols; but by playing child's
games with symbols thou shalt never understand. Thou hast the signs; thou
hast the words; but there are many things that are not in my power, who am but
the warden of the 28th Aethyr.
Now my name thou shalt obtain in this wise. Of the three angels of the
Aethyr, thou shalt write the names from right to left and from left to right
and from right to left, and these are the holy letters:
The first 1, the fifth 2, the sixth 3, the eleventh 4, the seventh 5, the
twelfth 6, the seventeenth 7.
Thus hast thou my name who am above these three, but the angels of the 30th
Aethyr are indeed four, and they have none above them; wherefore dispersion
and disorder.
Now cometh from every side at once a voice, terribly great, crying: Close
the veil; the great blasphemy hath been uttered; the face of my Mother is
scarred by the nails of the devil. Shut the book, destroy the breaker of the
seal! {14}
And I answered: Had he not been destroyed he had not come hither, for I am
not save in the darkness in the womb of Her by whom came evil into the world.
And this darkness swallows everything up, and the angel is gone from the
stone; and there is no light therein, save only the light of the Rose and of
the Cross.
AUMALE, ALGERIA.
"November" 23, 1909, between 8 and 9 p.m.
THE CRY OF THE 27TH AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED ZAA
There is an angel with rainbow wings, and his dress is green with silver, a
green veil over silver armour. Flames of many-coloured fire dart from him in
all directions. It is a woman of some thirty years old, and she has the moon
for a crest, and the moon is blazoned on her heart, and her sandals are curved
silver, like the moon.
And she cries: Lonely am I and cold in the wilderness of the stars. For I
am the queen of all them that dwell in Heaven, and the queen of all them that
are pure upon earth, and the queen of all the sorcerers of hell.
I am the daughter of Nuit, the lady of the stars. And I am the Bride of
them that are vowed unto loneliness. And I am the mother of the Dog Cerberus.
One person am I, and three gods.
And thou who hast blasphemed me shalt suffer knowing me. For I am cold as
thou art cold, and burn with thy fire. Oh, when shall the war of the Aires
and the elements be accomplished?
Radiant are these falchions of my brothers, invisibly about me, but the
might of the aethyrs beneath my feet beareth me {15} down. And they avail not
to sever the Kamailos. There is one in green armour, with green eyes, whose
sword is of vegetable fire. That shall avail me. My son is he, --- and how
shall I bear him that have not known man?
All this time intolerable rays are shooting forth to beat me back or
destroy me; but I am encased in an egg of blue-violet, and my form is the form
of a man with the head of a golden hawk. While I have been observing this,
the goddess has kept up a continuous wail, like the baying of a thousand
hounds; and now her voice is deep and guttural and hoarse, and she breathes
very rapidly words that I cannot hear. I can hear some of them now.
UNTU LA LA ULULA UMUNA TOFA LAMA LE LI NA AHR IMA TAHARA ELULA ETFOMA UNUNA
ARPETI ULU ULU ULU MARABAN ULULU MAHATA ULU ULU LAMASTANA.
And then her voice rises to a shriek, and there is a cauldron boiling in
front of her; and the flames under the cauldron are like unto zinc flames, and
in the cauldron is the Rose, the Rose of 49 petals, seething in it. Over the
cauldron she has arched her rainbow wings; and her face is bent over the
cauldron, and she is blowing opalescent silvery rings on to the Rose; and each
ring as it touches the water bursts into flame, and the Rose takes new
colours.
And now she lifts her head, and raises her hands to heaven, and cries: O
Mother, wilt thou never have compassion on the children of earth? Was it not
enough that the Rose should be red with the blood of thine heart, and that its
petals should be by 7 and by 7? {16}
She is weeping, weeping. And the tears grow and fill the whole stone with
moons. I can see nothing and hear nothing for the tears, though she keeps on
praying. "Take of these pearls, treasure them in thine heart. Is not the
Kingdom of the Abyss accurst?" She points downward to the cauldron; and now
in it there is the head of a most cruel dragon, black and corrupted. I watch,
and watch; and nothing happens.
And now the dragon rises out of the cauldron, very long and slim (like
Japanese Dragons, but infinitely more terrible), and he blots out the whole
sphere of the stone.
Then suddenly all is gone, and there is nothing in the stone save brilliant
white light and flecks like sparks of golden fire; and there is a ringing, as
if bells were being used for anvils. And there is a perfume which I cannot
describe; it is like nothing that one can describe, but the suggestion is like
lignum aloes. And now all these things are there at once in the same place
and time.
Now a veil of olive and silver is drawn over the stone, only I hear the
voice of the angel receding, very sweet and faint and sorrowful, saying: Far
off and lonely in the secret stone is the unknown, and interpenetrated is the
knowledge with the will and the understanding. I am alone. I am lost,
because I am all and in all; and my veil is woven of the green earth and the
web of stars. I love; and I am denied, for I have denied myself. Give me
those hands, put them against my heart. Is it not cold? Sink, sink, the
abyss of time remains. It is not possible that one should come to ZAA. Give
me thy face. Let me kiss it with my cold kisses. Ah! Ah! Ah! Fall back
from me. The word, the word of the aeon is MAKHASHANAH. And these words
shalt thou say backwards: {17} ARARNAY OBOLO MAHARNA TUTULU NOM LAHARA EN
NEDIEZO LO SAD FONUSA SOBANA ARANA BINUF LA LA LA ARPAZNA UOHULU when thou
wilt call my burden unto appearance, for I who am the Virgin goddess am the
pregnant goddess, and I have cast down my burden even unto the borders of the
universe. They that blaspheme me are stoned, and my veil is fallen about me
even unto the end of time.
Now there arises a great raging of thousands and thousands of mighty
warriors flashing through the aethyr so thickly that nothing is to be seen but
their swords, which are like blue-gray plumes. And the noise is confused,
thousands of battle-cries harmonizing to a roar, like the roar of a monstrous
river in flood. And all the stone is dull, dull gray. The life is gone from
it.
There is no more to see.
SIDI AISSA, ALGERIA.
"November" 24, 1909, 8-9 p.m.
THE CRY OF THE 26TH AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED DES
There is a very bright pentagram: and now the stone is gone, and the whole
heaven is black, and the blackness is the blackness of a mighty angel. And
though he is black (his face and his wings and his robe and his armour are all
black), yet is he so bright that I cannot look upon him. And he cries: O ye
spears and vials of poison and sharp swords and whirling thunderbolts that are
about the corners of the earth, girded with wrath and justice, know ye that
His name is Righteousness in Beauty? Burnt out are your eyes, for that ye
have seen me in my majesty. And broken are the drum-heads of {18} your ears,
because my name is as two mountains of fornication, the breasts of a strange
woman; and my Father is not in them.
Lo! the pools of fire and torment mingled with sulphur! Many are their
colours, and their colour is as molten gold, when all is said. Is not He one,
one and alone, in whom the brightness of your countenance is as 1,728 petals
of fire.
Also he spake the curse, folding his wings across and crying: Is not the
son the enemy of his father? And hath not the daughter stolen the warmth of
the bed of her mother? therefore is the great curse irrevocable. Therefore
there is neither wisdom nor understanding nor knowledge in this house, that
hangeth upon the edge of hell. Thou art not 4 but 2, O thou blasphemy spoken
against 1!
Therefore whoso worshippeth thee is accursed. He shall be brayed in a
mortar and the powder thereof cast to the winds, that the birds of the air may
eat thereof and die; and he shall be dissolved in strong acid and the elixir
poured into the sea, that the fishes of the sea may breathe thereof and die.
And he shall be mingled with dung and spread upon the earth, so that the herbs
of the earth may feed thereof and die; and he shall be burnt utterly with
fire, and the ashes thereof shall calcine the children of flame, that even in
hell may be found an overflowing lamentation.
And now on the breast of the Angel is a golden egg between the blackness of
the wings, and that egg grows and grows all over the aethyr. And it breaks,
and within there is a golden eagle.
And he cries: Woe! woe! woe! Yea, woe unto the world! For there is no
sin, and there is no salvation. My plumes are {19} like waves of gold upon
the sea. My eyes are brighter than the sun. My tongue is swifter than the
lightning.
Yet am I hemmed in by the armies of night, singing, singing prases unto Him
that is smitten by the thunderbolt of the abyss. Is not the sky clear behind
the sun? These clouds that burn thee up, these rays that scorch the brains of
men with blindness; these are heralds before my face of the dissolution and
the night.
Ye are all blinded by my glory; and though ye treasure in your heart the
sacred word that is the last lever of the key to the little door beyond the
abyss, yet ye gloss and comment thereupon; for the light itself is but
illusion. Truth itself is but illusion. Yea, these be the great illusions
beyond life and space and time.
Let thy lips blister with my words! Are they not meteors in thy brain?
Back, back from the face of the accursed one, who am I; back into the night of
my father, into the silence; for all that ye deem right is left, forward is
backward, upward is downward.
I am the great god adored of the holy ones. Yet am I the accursed one,
child of the elements and not their father.
O my mother! wilt thou not have pity upon me? Wilt thou not shield me?
For I am naked, I am manifest, I am profane. O my father! wilt not thou
withdraw me? I am extended, I am double, I am profane.
Woe, woe unto me! These are they that hear not prayer. It is I that have
heard all prayer alway, and there is none to answer "me." Woe unto me! Woe
unto me! Accursed am I unto the aeons!
All this time this brilliant eagle-headed god has been {20} attacked,
seemingly, by invisible people, for he is wounded now and again, here and
there; little streams of fresh blood come out over the feathers of his breast.
And the smoke of the blood is gradually filling the Aethyr with a crimson
veil. There is a scroll over the top, saying: "Ecclesia abhorret a sanguine;"
and there is another scroll below it in a language of which I do not know the
sounds. The meaning is, Not as they have understood.
The blood is thicker and darker now, and it is becoming clotted and black,
so that everything is blotted out; because it coagulates, coagulates. And
then at the top there steals a dawn of pure night-blue, --- Oh, the stars, the
stars in it deeply set! --- and drives the blood down; so that all round the
top of the oval gradually dawns the figure of our Lady Nuit, and beneath her
is the flaming winged disk, and below the altar of Ra-Hoor-Khuit, even as it
is upon the Stele of Revealing. But below is the supine figure of Seb, into
whom is concentrated all that clotted blood.
And there comes a voice: It is the dawn of the aeon. The aeons of cursing
are passed away. Force and fire, strength and sight, these are for the
servants of the Star and the Snake.
And now I seem to be lying in the desert, exhausted.
THE DESERT, NEAR SIDI AISSA.
"November" 25, 1909. 1.10 - 2 p.m.
THE CRY OF THE 25TH AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED VTI
There is nothing in the stone but the pale gold of the Rosy Cross.
Now there comes an Angel with bright wings, that is the Angel of the 25th
Aire. And all the aire is a dark olive about {21} him, like an alexandrite
stone. He bears a pitcher or amphora. And now there comes another Angel upon
a white horse, and yet again another Angel upon a black bull. And now there
comes a lion and swallows the two latter angels up. The first angel goes to
the lion and closes his mouth. And behind them are arrayed a great company of
Angels with silver spears, like a forest. And the Angel says: Blow, all ye
trumpets, for I will loose my hands from the mouth of the lion, and his
roaring shall enkindle the worlds.
Then the trumpets blow, and the wind rises and whistles terribly. It is a
blue wind with silver specks; and it blows through the whole Aethyr. But
through it one perceives the lion, which has become as a raging flame.
And he roareth in an unknown tongue. But this is the interpretation
thereof: Let the stars be burnt up in the fire of my nostrils! Let all the
gods and the archangels and the angels and the spirits that are on the earth,
and above the earth, and below the earth, that are in all the heavens and in
all the hells, let them be as motes dancing in the beam of mine eye!
I am he that swalloweth up death and victory. I have slain the crown?d
goat, and drunk up the great sea. Like the ash of dried leaves the worlds are
blown before me. Thou hast passed by me, and thou hast not known me. Woe
unto thee, that I have not devoured thee altogether!
On my head is the crown, 419 rays far-darting. And my body is the body of
the Snake, and my soul is the soul of the Crowned Child. Though an Angel in
white robes leadeth me, who shall ride upon me but the Woman of Abominations?
Who is the Beast? Am not I one more than he? In {22} his hand is a sword
that is a book. In his hand is a spear that is a cup of fornication. Upon
his mouth is set the great and terrible seal. And he hath the secret of V.
His ten horns spring from five points, and his eight heads are as the
charioteer of the West. Thus doth the fire of the sun temper the spear of
Mars, and thus shall he be worshipped, as the warrior lord of the sun. Yet in
him is the woman that devoureth with her water all the fire of God.
Alas! my lord, thou art joined with him that knoweth not these things.
When shall the day come that men shall flock to this my gate, and fall into
my furious throat, a whirlpool of fire? This is hell unquenchable, and all
they shall be utterly consumed therein. Therefore is that asbestos
unconsumable made pure.
Each of my teeth is a letter of the reverberating name. My tongue is a
pillar of fire, and from the glands of my mouth arise four pillars of water.
TAOTZEM is the name by which I am blasphemed. My name thou shalt not know,
lest thou pronounce it and pass by.
And now the Angel comes forward again and closes his mouth.
All this time heavy blows have been raining upon me from invisible angels,
so that I am weighed down as with a burden greater than the world. I am
altogether crushed. Great millstones are hurled out of heaven upon me. I am
trying to crawl to the lion, and the ground is covered with sharp knives. I
cut myself at every inch.
And the voice comes: Why art thou there who art here? Hast thou not the
sign of the number, and the seal of the name, and the ring of the eye? Thou
wilt not. {23}
And I answered and said: I am a creature of earth, and ye would have me
swim.
And the voice said: Thy fear is known; thine ignorance is known; thy
weakness is known; but thou art nothing in this matter. Shall the grain which
is cast into the earth by the hand of the sower debate within itself, saying,
am I oats or barley? Bond-slave of the curse, we give nothing, we take all.
Be thou content. That which thou art, thou art. Be content.
And now the lion passeth over through the Aethyr with the crowned beast
upon his back, and the tail of the lion goes on instead of stopping, and on
each hair of the tail is something or other --- sometimes a little house,
sometimes a planet, at other times a town. Then there is a great plain with
soldiers fighting upon it, and an enormously high mountain carved into a
thousand temples, and more houses and fields and trees, and great cities with
wonderful buildings in them, statues and columns and public buildings
generally. This goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on all on the
hairs of this lion's tail.
And then there is the tuft of his tail, which is like a comet, but the head
is a new universe, and each hair streaming away from it is a Milky Way.
And then there is a pale stern figure, enormous, enormous, bigger than all
that universe is, in silver armour, with a sword and a pair of balances. That
is only vague. All has gone into stone-gray, blank.
There is nothing.
AIN EL HAJEL.
"November" 25, 1909. 8.40-9.40 p.m. {24}
(There were two voices in all this Cry, one behind the other --- or, one
was the speech, and the other the meaning. And the voice that was the speech
was simply a roaring, one tremendous noise, like a mixture of thunder and
water-falls and wild beasts and bands and artillery. And yet it was
articulate, though I cannot tell you what a single word was. But the meaning
of the voice --- the second voice --- was quite silent, and put the ideas
directly into the brain of the Seer, as if by touch. It is not certain
whether the millstones and the sword-strokes that rained upon him were not
these very sounds and ideas.)
THE CRY OF THE 24TH AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED NIA
An angel comes forward into the stone like a warrior clad in chain-armour.
Upon his head are plumes of gray, spread out like the fan of a peacock. About
his feet a great army of scorpions and dogs, lions, elephants, and many other
wild beasts. He stretches forth his arms to heaven and cries; In the
crackling of the lightning, in the rolling of the thunder, in the clashing of
the swords and the hurling of the arrows: be thy name exalted!
Streams of fire come out of the heavens, a pale brilliant blue, like
plumes. And they gather themselves and settle upon his lips. His lips are
redder than roses, and the blue plumes gather themselves into a blue rose, and
from beneath the petals of the rose come brightly coloured humming-birds, and
dew falls from the rose-honey-coloured dew. I stand in the shower of it.
And a voice proceeds from the rose: Come away! Our chariot is drawn by
doves. Of mother-of-pearl and ivory is {25} our chariot and the reins thereof
are the heart-strings of men. Every moment that we fly shall cover an aeon.
And every place on which we rest shall be a young universe rejoicing in its
strength; the meadows thereof shall be covered with flowers. There shall we
rest but a night, and in the morning we shall flee away, comforted.
Now, to myself, I have imagined the chariot of which the voice spake, and I
looked to see who was with me in the chariot. It was an Angel of golden hair
and golden skin, whose eyes were bluer than the sea, whose mouth was redder
than the fire, whose breath was ambrosial air. Finer than a spider's web were
her robes. And they were of the seven colours.
All this I saw; and then the hidden voice went on low and sweet: Come away!
The price of the journey is little, though its name be death. Thou shalt die
to all that thou fearest and hopest and hatest and lovest and thinkest and
art. Yea! thou shalt die, even as thou must die. For all that thou hast,
thou hast not; all that thou art, thou art not!
NENNI OFEKUFA ANANAEL LAIADA I MAELPEREJI NONUKA AFAFA ADAREPEHETA PEREGI
ALADI NIISA NIISA LAPE OL ZODIR IDOIAN.
And I said: ODO KIKALE QAA. Why art thou hidden from me, whom I hear?
And the voice answered and said unto me: Hearing is of the spirit alone.
Thou art a partaker of the five-fold mystery. Thou must roll up the ten
divine ones like a scroll, and fashion therefrom a star. Yet must thou blot
out the star in the heart of Hadit. {26}
For the blood of my heart is like a warm bath of myrrh and ambergris; bathe
thyself therein. The blood of my heart is all gathered upon my lips if I kiss
thee, burns in my fingertips if I caress thee, burns in my womb when thou art
caught up into my bed. Mighty are the stars; mighty is the sun; mighty is the
moon; mighty is the voice of the ever-living one, and the echoes of his
whisper are the thunders of the dissolution of the worlds. But my silence is
mightier than they. Close up the worlds like unto a weary house; close up the
book of the recorder, and let the veil swallow up the shrine, for I am arisen,
O my fair one, and there is no more need of all these things.
If once I put thee apart from me, it was the joy of play. Is not the ebb
and flowing of the tide a music of the sea? Come, let us mount unto Nuit our
mother and be lost! Let being be emptied in the infinite abyss! For by me
only shalt thou mount; thou hast none other wings than mine.
All this while the Rose has been shooting out blue flames, coruscating like
snakes through the whole Aire. And the snakes have taken shapes of sentences.
One of them is: "Sub umbra alarum tuarum Adonai quies et felicitas." And
another: "Summum bonum, vera sapientia, magnanima vita, sub noctis nocte sunt."
And another is: "Vera medicina est vinum mortis." And another is: "Libertas"
"evangelii per jugum legis ob gloriam dei intactam ad vacuum nequaquam tendit."
And another is: "Sub aqu? lex terrarum." And another is: "Mens edax rerum, cor"
"umbra rerum; intelligentia via summa." And another is: "Summa via lucis: per"
"Hephaestum undas regas." And another is: "Vir introit tumulum regis, invenit
oleum lucis.
And all round the whole of these things are the letters {27} TARO; but the
light is so dreadful that I cannot read the words. I am going to try again.
All these serpents are collected together very thickly at the edges of the
wheel, because there are an innumerable number of sentences. One is: "tres"
"annos regimen oraculi." And another is: "terribilis ardet rex"
HB:Nun-final HB:Vau HB:Yod HB:Lamed HB:Ayin . And another is: "Ter amb (amp?)" (can't see it) "rosam"
"oleo (?)." And another is: "Tribus annulis regna olisbon." And the marvel is
that with those four letters you can get a complete set of rules for doing
everything, both for white magic and black.
And now I see the heart of the rose again. I see the face of him that is
the heart of the rose, and in the glory of that face I am ended. My eyes are
fixed upon his eyes; my being is sucked up through my eyes into those eyes.
And I see through those eyes, and lo! the universe, like whirling sparks of
gold, blown like a tempest. I seem to swell out again into him. My
consciousness fills the whole Aethyr. I hear the cry NIA, ringing again and
again from within me. It sounds like infinite music, and behind the sound is
the meaning of the Aethyr. Again there are no words.
All this time the whirling sparks of gold go on, and they are like blue
sky, with a lot of rather thin white clouds in it, outside. And now I see
mountains round, far blue mountains, purple mountains. And in the midst is a
little green dell of moss, which is all sparkling with dew that drips from the
rose. And I am lying on that moss with my face upwards, drinking, drinking,
drinking, drinking, drinking of the dew.
I cannot describe to you the joy and the exhaustion of everything that was,
and the energy of everything that is, for it is only a corpse that is lying on
the moss. I am the soul of the Aethyr. {28}
Now it reverberates like the swords of archangels, clashing upon the armour
of the damned; and there seem to be the blacksmiths of heaven beating the
steel of the worlds upon the anvils of hell, to make a roof to the Aethyr.
For if the great work were accomplished and all the Aethyrs were caught up
into one, then would the vision fail; then would the voice be still.
Now all is gone from the stone.
AIN EL HAJEL.
"November" 26, 1909. 2-3.25 p.m.
The Cry of the 23rd Aethyr, Which is Called TOR.
In the brightness of the stone are three lights, brighter than all, which
revolve ceaselessly. And now there is a spider's web of silver covering the
whole of the stone. Behind the spider's web is a star of twelve rays; and
behind that again, a black bull, furiously pawing up the ground. The flames
from his mouth increase and whirl, and he cries: Behold the mystery of toil,
O thou who art taken in the toils of mystery. For I who trample the earth
thereby make whirlpools in the air; be comforted, therefore, for though I be
black, in the roof of my mouth is the sign of the Beetle. Bent are the backs
of my brethren, yet shall they gore the lion with their horns. Have I not the
wings of the eagle, and the face of the man?
And now he is turned into one of those winged Assyrian bull-men.
And he sayeth: The spade of the husbandman is the sceptre of the king.
All the heavens beneath me, they serve me. They are my fields and my gardens
and my orchards and my pastures. {29}
Glory be unto thee, who didst set thy feet in the North; whose forehead is
pierced with the sharp points of the diamonds in thy crown; whose heart is
pierced with the spear of thine own fecundity.
Thou art an egg of blackness, and a worm of poison. But thou hast
formulated thy father, and made fertile thy mother.
Thou art the basilisk whose gaze turns men to stone, and the cockatrice at
the breast of an harlot that giveth death for milk. Thou art the asp that has
stolen into the cradle of the babe. Glory unto thee, who art twined about the
world as the vine that clingeth to the bare body of a bacchanal.
Also, though I be planted so firmly upon the earth, yet is my blood wine
and my breath fire of madness. With these wings, though they be but little, I
lift myself above the crown of the yod, and being without fins I yet swim in
the inviolate fountain.
I disport myself in the ruins of Eden, even as Leviathan in the false sea,
being whole as the rose at the crown of the cross. Come ye unto me, my
children, and be glad. At the end of labour is the power of labour. And in
my stability is concentrated eternal change.
For the whirlings of the universe are but the course of the blood in my
heart. And the unspeakable variety thereof is but my divers hairs, and
plumes, and gems in my tall crown. The change which ye lament is the life of
my rejoicing, and the sorrow that blackeneth your hearts is the myriad deaths
by which I am renewed. And the instability which maketh ye to fear, is the
little waverings of balance by which I am assured.
And now the veil of silver tissue-stuff closes over him, and above that, a
purple veil, and above that, a golden veil, {30} so that now the whole stone
is like a thick mat of woven gold wires; and there come forth, one from each
side of the stone, two women, and grasp each other by both hands, and kiss,
and melt into one another; and melt away.3 And now the veils open again, the
gold parts, and the purple parts, and the silver parts, and there is a crowned
eagle, also like the Assyrian eagles.
And he cries: All my strength and stability are turned to the use of
flight. For though my wings are of fine gold, yet my heart is the heart of a
scorpion.
Glory unto thee, who being born in a stable didst make thee mirth of the
filth thereof, who didst suck in iniquity from the breast of thy mother the
harlot; who didst flood with iniquity the bodies of thy concubines.
Thou didst lie in the filth of the streets with the dogs; thou wast tumbled
and shameless and wanton in a place where four roads meet. There wast thou
defiled, and there wast thou slain, and there wast thou left to rot. The
charred stake was thrust through thy bowels, and thy parts were cut off and
thrust into thy mouth for derision.
All my unity is dissolved; I live in the tips of my feathers. That which I
think to be myself is but infinite number. Glory unto the Rose and the Cross,
for the Cross is extended unto the uttermost end beyond space and time and
being and knowledge and delight! Glory unto the Rose that is the minute point
of its center! Even as we say; glory unto the Rose that is Nuit the
circumference of all, and glory unto the Cross that is the heart of the Rose!
{31}
Therefore do I cry aloud, and my scream is the treble as the bellowing of
the bull is the bass. Peace in the highest and peace in the lowest and peace
in the midst thereof! Peace in the eight quarters, peace in the ten points of
the Pentagram! Peace in the twelve rays of the seal of Solomon, and peace in
the four and thirty whirlings of the hammer of Thor! Behold! I blaze upon
thee. (The eagle is gone; it is only a flaming Rosy Cross of white
brilliance.) I catch thee up into rapture. FALUTLI, FALUTLI!
... O it dies, it dies.
BOU SAADA.
3 These are intended to show symbolically that the Bull is the
same as the Eagle.
"November" 28, 1909. 9.30-10.15 A.M.
THE CRY OF THE 22ND AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED LIN
There comes first into the stone the mysterious table of forty-nine
squares. It is surrounded by an innumerable company of angels; these angels
are of all kinds, --- some brilliant and flashing as gods, down to elemental
creatures. The light comes and goes on the tablet; and now it is steady, and
I perceive that each letter of the tablet is composed of forty-nine other
letters, in a language which looks like that of Honorius; but when I would
read, the letter that I look at becomes indistinct at once.
And now there comes an Angel, to hide the tablet with his mighty wing.
This Angel has all the colours mingled in his dress; his head is proud and
beautiful; his headdress is of silver and red and blue and gold and black,
like cascades of water, and in his left hand he has a pan-pipe of the seven
holy metals, upon which he plays. I cannot tell you how wonderful {32} the
music is, but it is so wonderful that one only lives in one's ears; one cannot
see anything any more.
Now he stops playing and moves with his finger in the air. His finger
leaves a trail of fire of every colour, so that the whole Aire is become like
a web of mingled lights. But through it all drops dew.
(I can't describe these things at all. Dew doesn't represent what I mean
in the least. For instance, these drops of dew are enormous globes, shining
like the full moon, only perfectly transparent, as well as perfectly
luminous.)
And now he shows the tablet again, and he says: As there are 49 letters in
the tablet, so are there 49 kinds of cosmos in every thought of God. And
there are 49 interpretations of every cosmos, and each interpretation is
manifested in 49 ways. Thus also are the calls 49, but to each call there are
49 visions. And each vision is composed of 49 elements, except in the 10th
Aethyr, that is accurs?d, and that hath 42.
All this while the dewdrops have turned into cascades of gold finer than
the eyelashes of a little child. And though the extent of the Aethyr is so
enormous, one perceives each hair separately, as well as the whole thing at
once. And now there is a mighty concourse of angels rushing toward me from
every side, and they melt upon the surface of the egg in which I am standing
in the form of the god Kneph, so that the surface of the egg is all one
dazzling blaze of liquid light.
Now I move up against the tablet, --- I cannot tell you with what rapture.
And all the names of God, that are not known even to the angels, clothe me
about.
All the seven senses are transmuted into one sense, and that sense is
dissolved in itself ... (Here occurs Samadhi.) {33} ... Let me speak, O God;
let me declare it ... all. It is useless; my heart faints, my breath stops.
There is no link between me and P . . . I withdraw myself. I see the table
again.
(He was behind the table for a very long time. O.V.)
And all the table burns with intolerable light; there has been no such
light in any of the Aethyrs until now. And now the table draws me back into
itself; I am no more.
My arms were out in the form of a cross, and that Cross was extended,
blazing with light into infinity. I myself am the minutest point in it. This
is "the birth of form."
I am encircled by an immense sphere of many-coloured bands; it seems it is
the sphere of the Sephiroth projected in the three dimensions. This is "the"
"birth of death."
Now in the centre within me is a glowing sun. That is "the birth of hell."
Now all that is swept away, washed away by the table. It is the virtue of
the table to sweep everything away. It is the letter I in this Aethyr that
gives this vision, and L is its purity, and N is its energy. Now everything
is confused, for I invoked the Mind, that is disruption. Every Adept who
beholds this vision is corrupted by mind. Yet it is by virtue of mind that he
endures it, and passes on, if so be that he pass on. Yet there is nothing
higher than this, for it is perfectly balanced in itself. I cannot read a
word of the holy Table, for the letters of the Table are all wrong. They are
only the shadows of shadows. And whoso beholdeth this Table with this
rapture, is light. The true word for light hath seven letters. They are the
same as ARARITA, transmuted. {34}
There is a voice in this Aethyr, but it cannot be spoken. The only way one
can represent it is as a ceaseless thundering of the word Amen. It is not a
repetition of Amen, because there is no time. It is one Amen continuous.
Shall mine eye fade before thy glory? I am the eye. That is why the eye
is seventy. You can never understand why, except in this vision.
And now the table recedes from me. Far, far it goes, streaming with light.
And there are two black angels bending over me, covering me with their wings,
shutting me up into the darkness; and I am lying in the Pastos of our Father
Christian Rosenkreutz, beneath the Table in the Vault of seven sides. And I
hear these words:
The voice of the Crowned Child, the Speech of the Babe that is hidden in
the egg of blue. (Before me is the flaming Rosy Cross.) I have opened mine
eye, and the universe is dissolved before me, for force is mine upper eye-lid
and matter is my lower eye-lid. I gaze into the seven spaces, and there is
naught.
The rest of it comes without words; and then again:
I have gone forth to war, and I have slain him that sat upon the sea,
crowned with the winds. I put forth my power and he was broken. I withdrew
my power and he was ground into fine dust.
Rejoice with me, O ye Sons of the Morning; stand with me upon the Throne of
Lotus; gather yourselves up unto me, and we shall play together in the fields
of light. I have passed into the Kingdom of the West after my Father.
Behold! where are now the darkness and the terror and the lamentation?
For ye are born into the new Aeon; ye shall {35} not suffer death. Bind up
your girdles of gold! Wreathe yourselves with garlands of my unfading
flowers! In the nights we will dance together, and in the morning we will go
forth to war; for, as my Father liveth that was dead, so do I live and shall
never die.
And now the table comes rushing back. It covers the whole stone, but this
time it pushes me before it, and a terrible voice cries: Begone! Thou hast
profaned the mystery; thou hast eaten of the shew-bread; thou hast spilt the
consecrated wine! Begone! For the Voice is accomplished. Begone! For that
which was open is shut. And thou shalt not avail to open it, saving by virtue
of him whose name is one, whose spirit is one, whose individuum is one, and
whose permutation is one; whose light is one, whose life is one, whose love is
one. For though thou art joined to the inmost mystery of the heaven, thou
must accomplish the sevenfold task of the earth, even as thou sawest the
Angels from the greatest unto the least. And of all this shalt thou take back
with thee but a little part, for the sense shall be darkened, and the shrine
re-veiled. Yet know this for thy reproof, and for the stirring up of
discontent in them whose swords are of lath, that in every word of this vision
is concealed the key of many mysteries, even of being, and of knowledge, and
of bliss; of will, of courage, of wisdom, and of silence, and of that which,
being all these, is greater than all these. Begone! For the night of life is
fallen upon thee. And the veil of light hideth that which is.
With that, I suddenly see the world as it is, and I am very sorrowful.
BOU-SAADA.
"November" 28, 1909. 4-6 p.m. {36}
("Note." --- You do not come back in any way dazed; it is like going from one
room into another. Regained normal consciousness completely and immediately.)
THE CRY OF THE 21ST AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED ASP.
A mighty wind rolls through all the Aethyr; there is a sense of absolute
emptiness; no colour, no form, no substance. Only now and then there seem as
it were, the shadows of great angels, swept along. No sound; there is
something very remorseless about the wind, passionless, that is very terrible.
In a way, it is nerve-shaking. It seems as if something kept on trying to
open behind the wind, and just as it is about to open, the effort is
exhausted. The wind is not cold or hot; there is no sense of any kind
connected with it. One does not even feel it, for one is standing in front of
it.
Now, the thing opens behind, just for a second, and I catch a glimpse of an
avenue of pillars, and at the end a throne, supported by sphinxes. All this
is black marble.
Now I seem to have gone through the wind, and to be standing before the
throne; but he that sitteth thereon is invisible. Yet it is from him that all
this desolation proceeds.
He is trying to make me understand by putting tastes in my mouth, very
rapidly one after the other. Salt, honey, sugar, assafoetida, bitumen, honey
again, some taste that I don't know at all; garlic, something very bitter like
nux vomica, another taste, still more bitter; lemon, cloves, rose-leaves,
honey again; the juice of some plant, like a dandelion, I think; honey again,
salt, a taste something like phosphorus, honey, laurel, a very unpleasant
taste which I don't know, {37} coffee, then a burning taste, then a sour taste
that I don't know. All these tastes issue from his eyes; he "signals" them.
I can see his eyes now. They are very round, with perfectly black pupils,
perfectly white iris, and the cornea pale blue. The sense of desolation is so
acute that I keep on trying to get away from the vision.
I told him that I could not understand his taste-language, so instead he
set up a humming very much like a big electric plant with dynamos going.
Now the atmosphere is deep night-blue; and by the power of that atmosphere,
the pillars kindle to a dull glowing crimson, and the throne is a dull, ruddy
gold. And now, through the humming, come very clear, bell-like notes, and
farther still a muttering, like that of a gathering storm.
And now I hear the meaning of the muttering: I am he who was before the
beginning, and in my desolation I cried aloud, saying, let me behold my
countenance in the concave of the abyss. And I beheld, and lo! in the
darkness of the abyss my countenance was black, and empty, and distorted, that
was (once) invisible and pure.
Then I closed mine eye, that I might not behold it, and for this was it
fixed. Now it is written that one glance of mine eye shall destroy it. And
mine eye I dare not open, because of the foulness of the vision. Therefore do
I gaze with these two eyes throughout the aeon. Is there not one of all my
adepts that shall come unto me, and cut off mine eyelids, that I may behold
and destroy?
Now I take a dagger, and, searching out his third eye, seek to cut off the
eye-lids, but they are of adamant. And the edge of the dagger is turned. {38}
And tears drop from his eyes, and there is a mournful voice: So it hath
been ever: so must it ever be! Though thou hast the strength of five bulls,
thou shalt not avail in this.
And I said to him: Who shall avail? And he answered me: I know not. But
the dagger of penance thou shalt temper seven times, afflicting the seven
courses of thy soul. And thou shalt sharpen its edge seven times by the seven
ordeals.
(One keeps on looking round to try to find something else because of the
terror of it. But nothing changes at all. Nothing but the empty throne, and
the eyes, and the avenue of pillars!)
And I said to him: O thou that art the first countenance before time; thou
of whom it is written that "He, God, is one; He is the eternal one, without
equal, son or companion. Nothing shall stand before His face"; all we have
heard of thine infinite glory and holiness, of thy beauty and majesty, and
behold! there is nothing but this abomination of desolation.
He speaks; I cannot hear a word; something about the Book of the Law. The
answer is written in the Book of the Law, or something of that sort.
This is a long speech; all that I can hear is: From me pour down the fires
of life and increase continually upon the earth. From me flow down the rivers
of water and oil and wine. From me cometh forth the wind that beareth the
seed of trees and flowers and fruits and all herbs upon its bosom. From me
cometh forth the earth in her unspeakable variety. Yea! all cometh from me,
naught cometh to me. Therefore am I lonely and horrible upon this
unprofitable throne. Only those who accept nothing from me can bring anything
to me. {39}
(He goes on speaking again: I cannot hear a word. I may have got about a
twentieth of what he said.) And I say to him: It was written that his name
is Silence, but thou speakest continually.
And he answers: Nay, the muttering that thou hearest is not my voice. It
is the voice of the ape.
(When I say that he answers, it means that it is the same voice. The being
on the throne has not uttered a word.) I say: O thou ape that speakest for
Him whose name is Silence, how shall I know that thou speakest truly His
thought? And the muttering continues: Nor speaketh He nor thinketh, so that
which I say is true, because I lie in speaking His thoughts.
He goes on, nothing stops him; and the muttering comes so fast that I
cannot hear him at all.
Now the muttering has ceased, or is overwhelmed by the bells, and the bells
in their turn are overwhelmed by the whirring, and now the whirring is
overwhelmed by the silence. And the blue light is gone, and the throne and
the pillars are returned to blackness, and the eyes of him that sitteth upon
the throne are no more visible.
I seek to go up close to the throne, and I am pushed back, because I cannot
give the sign. I have given all the signs I know and am entitled to, and I
have tried to give the sign that I know and am not entitled to, but have not
the necessary appurtenance; and even if I had, it would be useless; for there
are two more signs necessary.
I find that I was wrong in suggesting that a Master of the Temple had a
right to enter the temple of a Magus or an Ipsissimus. On the contrary, the
rule that holds below, holds {40} also above. The higher you go, the greater
is the distance from one grade to another.
I am being slowly pushed backwards down the avenue, out into the wind. And
this time I am caught up by the wind and whirled away down it like a dead
leaf.
And a great Angel sweeps through the wind, and catches hold of me, and
bears me up against it; and he sets me down on the hither side of the wind,
and he whispers in my ear: Go thou forth into the world, O thrice and four
times blessed who hast gazed upon the horror of the loneliness of The First.
No man shall look upon his face and live. And thou hast seen his eyes, and
understood his heart, for the voice of the ape is the pulse of his heart and
the labouring of his breast. Go, therefore, and rejoice, for thou art the
prophet of the Aeon arising, wherein He is not. Give thou praise unto thy
lady Nuit, and unto her lord Hadit, that are for thee and thy bride, and the
winners of the ordeal X.
And with that we are come to the wall of the Aethyr, and there is a little
narrow gate, and he pushes me through it, and I am suddenly in the desert.
THE DESERT, NEAR BOU SAADA.4
"November" 29, 1909. 1.30 - 2.50 p.m.
THE CRY OF THE 20TH AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED KHR
The dew that was upon the face of the stone is gone, and it is become like
a pool of clear golden water. And now the light is come into the Rosy Cross.
Yet all that I see is the night, with the stars therein, as they appear
through a telescope. {41} And there cometh a peacock into the stone, filling
the whole Aire. It is like the vision called the Universal Peacock, or,
rather, like a representation of that vision. And now there are countless
clouds of white angels filling the Aire as the peacock dissolves.
Now behind the angels are archangels with trumpets. These cause all things
to appear at once, so that there is a tremendous confusion of images. And now
I perceive that all these things are but veils of the wheel, for they all
gather themselves into a wheel that spins with incredible velocity. It hath
many colours, but all thrilled with white light, so that they are transparent
and luminous. This one wheel is forty-nine wheels, set at different angles,
so that they compose a sphere; each wheel has forty-nine spokes, and has
forty-nine concentric tyres at equal distances from the centre. And wherever
the rays from any two wheels meet, there is a blinding flash of glory. It
must be understood that though so much detail is visible in the wheel, yet at
the same time the impression is of a single, simple object.
It seems that this wheel is being spun by a hand. Though the wheel fills
the whole Aire, yet the hand is much bigger than the wheel. And though this
vision is so great and splendid, yet there is no seriousness with it, or
solemnity. It seems that the hand is spinning the wheel merely for pleasure,
it would be better to say amusement.
A voice comes: For he is a jocund and a ruddy god, and his laughter is the
vibration of all that exists, and the earthquakes of the soul.
One is conscious of the whirring of the wheel thrilling one, like an
electric discharge passing through one. {42}
Now I see the figures on the wheel, which have been interpreted as the
sworded Sphinx, Hermanubis and Typhon. And that is wrong. The rim of the
wheel is a vivid emerald snake; in the centre of the wheel is a scarlet heart;
and, impossible to explain as it is, the scarlet of the heart and the green of
the snake are yet more vivid than the blinding white brilliance of the wheel.
The figures on the wheel are darker than the wheel itself; in fact, they
are stains upon the purity of the wheel, and for that reason, and because of
the whirling of the wheel, I cannot see them. But at the top seems to be the
Lamb and Flag, such as one sees on some Christian medals, and one of the lower
things is a wolf, and the other a raven. The Lamb and Flag symbol is much
brighter than the other two. It keeps on growing brighter, until now it is
brighter than the wheel itself, and occupies more space than it did.
It speaks: I am the greatest of the deceivers, for my purity and innocence
shall seduce the pure and innocent, who but for me should come to the centre
of the wheel. The wolf betrayeth only the greedy and the treacherous; the
raven betrayeth only the melancholy and the dishonest. But I am he of whom it
is written: He shall deceive the very elect.
For in the beginning the Father of all called forth lying spirits that they
might sift the creatures of the earth in three sieves, according to the three
impure souls. And he chose the wolf for the lust of the flesh, and the raven
for the lust of the mind; but me did he choose above all to simulate the pure
prompting of the soul. Them that are fallen a prey to the wolf and the raven
I have not scathed; but them that have rejected me, I have given over to the
4 This night I took the shew-stone to my breast to sleep, and
immediately a Dhyana arose of the sun, seen more clearly
afterwards as the Star. Exceeding was its brilliance.
wrath of the raven and the wolf. And the jaws of the one have torn them, and
the {43} beak of the other has devoured the corpse. Therefore is my flag
white, because I have left nothing upon the earth alive. I have feasted
myself on the blood of the saints, but I am not suspected of men to be their
enemy, for my fleece is white and warm, and my teeth are not the teeth of one
that teareth flesh; and mine eyes are mild, and they know me not the chief of
the lying spirits that the Father of all sent forth from before his face in
the beginning.
(His attribution is salt; the wolf mercury, and the raven sulphur.)
Now the lamb grows small again, there is again nothing but the wheel, and
the hand that whirleth it.
And I said: "By the word of power, double in the voice of the Master; by
the word that is seven, and one in seven; and by the great and terrible word
210, I beseech thee, O my Lord, to grant me the vision of thy glory." And all
the rays of the wheel stream out at me, and I am blasted and blinded with the
light. I am caught up into the wheel. I am one with the wheel. I am greater
than the wheel. In the midst of a myriad lightnings I stand, and I behold his
face. (I am thrown violently back on to the earth every second, so that I
cannot quite concentrate.)
All one gets is a liquid flame of pale gold. But its radiant force keeps
hurling me back.
And I say: By the word and the will, by the penance and the prayer, let me
behold thy face. (I cannot explain this, there is confusion of
personalities.) I who speak to you, see what I tell you; but I, who see him,
cannot communicate it to me, who speak to you.
If one could gaze upon the sun at noon, that might be like {44} the
substance of him. But the light is without heat. It is the vision of Ut in
the Upanishads. And from this vision have come all the legends of Bacchus and
Krishna and Adonis. For the impression is of a youth dancing and making
music. But you must understand that he is not doing that, for he is still.
Even the hand that turns the wheel is not his hand, but only a hand energized
by him.
And now it is the dance of Shiva. I lie beneath his feet, his saint, his
victim. My form is the form of the God Phtah, in my essence, but the form of
the god Seb in my form. And this is the reason of existence, that in this
dance which is delight, there must needs be both the god and the adept. Also
the earth herself is a saint; and the sun and the moon dance upon her,
torturing her with delight.
This vision is not perfect. I am only in the outer court of the vision,
because I have undertaken it in the service of the Holy One, and must retain
sense and speech. No recorded vision is perfect, of high visions, for the
seer must keep either his physical organs or his memory in working order. And
neither is capable. There is no bridge. One can only be conscious of one
thing at a time, and as the consciousness moves nearer to the vision, it loses
control of the physical and mental. Even so, the body and the mind must be
very perfect before anything can be done, or the energy of the vision may send
the body into spasms and the mind into insanity. This is why the first
visions give Ananda, which is a shock. When the adept is attuned to Samadhi,
there is but cloudless peace.
This vision is particularly difficult to get into, because he is I. And
therefore the human ego is being constantly excited, {45} so that one comes
back so often. An acentric meditation practice like mahasatipatthana ought to
be done before invocations of the Holy Guardian Angel, so that the ego may be
very ready to yield itself utterly to the Beloved.
And now the breeze is blowing about us, like the sighs of love unsatisfied
--- or satisfied. His lips move. I cannot say the words at first.
And afterwords: "Shalt thou not bring the children of men to the sight of
my glory? 'Only thy silence and thy speech that worship me avail.' 'For as I
am the last, so am I the next, and as the next shalt thou reveal me to the
multitude.' Fear not for aught; turn not aside for aught, eremite of Nuit,
apostle of Hadit, warrior of Ra Hoor Khu! The leaven taketh, and the bread
shall be sweet; the ferment worketh, and the wine shall be sweet. My
sacraments are vigorous food and divine madness. Come unto me, O ye children
of men; come unto me, in whom I am, in whom ye are, were ye only alive with
the life that abideth in Light."
All this time I have been fading away. I sink. The veil of night comes
down a dull blue-gray with one pentagram in the midst of it, watery and dull.
And I am to abide there for a while before I come back to the earth. (But
shut me the window up, hide me from the sun. Oh, shut the window!)5
Now, the pentagram is faded; black crosses fill the Aethyr gradually
growing and interlacing, until there is a network.
It is all dark now. I am lying exhausted, with the sharp edge of the shew-
stone cutting into my forehead.
BOU-SAADA.
"November" 30, 1909. 9.15 - 10.50 a.m. {46}
5 It was done. --- O.V.
{Illustration plate facing page 47 partly approximated and partly described:
This is as shown below. The words in the top row are enclosed in bands (not
scrolls) set at a 45ј angle upward from near lower left to upper right in each
of the four sections. The lower part of each band curves slightly upward
behind the band and the upper part curves slightly downward behind the band.
Each of the daggers is composed of four triangles having sides equal and
longer than the base; three small with apexes meeting from the handle and hilt
and one longer the blade with apex as the point. The handle and hilt are
represented here by "+" or "X", the latter showing diagonal daggers. The
blade, hilts and handle all are set at right angles. Sizes vary to
accommodate the configurations within the panels.
Щ-----------б-----------б-----------б-----------б-----------Л
К Г Г + Г Г К
К Г Г + | + Г Г К
К The Г Alphabet Г | | | Г of Г Daggers К
К Г Г | | | Г Г К
К Г ГA | | Г Г К
Ч___________Х___________Х___________Х___________Х___________Ж
К Г + Г ------+ Г X Г | | К
К ------+ Г | Г +------ Г / X Г | | | К
К Г | Г ------+ Г / / X Г | | | К
К ------+ Г | Г Г / / Г + | + К
КB ГC ГD ГE / ГF + К
Ч___________Х___________Х___________Х___________Х___________Ж
К + Г + Г + Г X Г X X К
К | + Г | Г | Г / Г \ / К
К | Г | Г +-- Г | Г | К
К + Г + Г | Г + Г + К
КG | ГH ГI + ГJ ГK К
Ч___________Х___________Х___________Х___________Х___________Ж
К + + + Г | Г Г X + X Г + К
К | | | Г + Г +-- | Г \ | / Г +--|-- К
К | | | Г /|\ Г +-- | Г \ / Г | К
К +----- Г X + X Г +-- + Г / \ Г --|--+ К
КL ГM ГN ГO X X ГP | К
Ч___________Х___________Х___________Х___________Х___________Ж
К Г + X Г | Г + + + Г X К
К X X Г \| / Г | Г | | | Г / / К
К X \/ Г |\/ Г | Г | | | Г / / X К
К \/ Г | \ Г | Г | | | Г X / К
КQ / ГR + X ГS + ГT ГU / К
Ч___________Х___________Х___________Х___________Х___________Ж
К + Г + + + Г \ / Г X X Г +----- К
К +|+ Г ||||||| Г X X Г / + \ Г К
К ||| Г ||||||| Г X X Г / | \ Г +----- К
К ||| Г + + + + Г / \ Г | Г К
КV | ГW ГX ГY ГZ +----- К
Ш-----------Я-----------Я-----------Я-----------Я-----------М}
THE CRY OF THE 19TH AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED POP
At first there is a black web over the face of the stone. A ray of light
pierces it from behind and above. Then cometh a black cross, reaching across
the whole stone; then a golden cross, not so large. And there is a writing in
an arch that spans the cross, in an alphabet in which the letters are all
formed of little daggers, cross-hilted, differently arranged. And the writing
is: Worship in the body the things of the body; worship in the mind the things
of the mind; worship in the spirit the things of the spirit.
(This holy alphabet must be written by sinners, that is, by those who are
impure.)
"Impure" means those whose every thought is followed by another thought, or
who confuse the higher with the lower, the substance with the shadow. Every
Aethyr is truth, though it be but a shadow, for the shadow of a man is not the
shadow of an ape.
("Note." --- All this has come to me without voice, without vision, without
thought.)
(The shew-stone is pressed upon my forehead and causes intense pain; as I
go on from Aethyr to Aethyr, it seems more difficult to open the Aethyr.
The golden cross has become a little narrow door, and an old man like the
Hermit of the Taro has opened it and come out. I ask him for admission: and
he shakes his head kindly, and says: It is not given to flesh and blood to
unveil the mysteries of the Aethyr, for therein are the chariots of fire. and
the tumult of the horsemen; whoso entereth here may never look on life again
with equal eyes. I insist. {47}
The little gate is guarded by a great green dragon. And now the whole wall
is suddenly fallen away; there is a blaze of the chariots and the horsemen; a
furious battle is raging. One hears nothing but the clash of steel and the
neighing of the chargers and the shrieks of the wounded. A thousand fall at
every encounter and are trampled under foot. Yet the Aethyr is always full;
there are infinite reserves.
No; that is all wrong, for this is not a battle between two forces, but a
"m?l?e" in which each warrior fights for himself against all the others. I
cannot see one who has even one ally. And the least fortunate, who fall
soonest, are those in the chariots. For as soon as they are engaged in
fighting, their own charioteers stab them in the back.
And in the midst of the battlefield there is a great tree, like a chinar-
tree. Yet it bears fruits. And now all the warriors are dead, and they are
the ripe fruits that are fallen -- the ground is covered with them.
There is a laugh in my right ear: "This is the tree of life."
And now there is a mighty god, Sebek, with the head of a crocodile. His
head is gray, like river mud, and his jaws fill the whole Aire. And he
crunches up the whole tree and the ground and everything.
Now then at last cometh forth the Angel of the Aethyr, who is like the
Angel of the fourteenth key of Rota, with beautiful blue wings, blue robes,
the sun in her girdle like a brooch, and the two crescents of the moon shapen
into sandals for her feet. Her hair is of flowing gold, each sparkle as a
star. In her hands are the torch of Penelope and the cup of Circe. {48}
She comes and kisses me on the mouth, and says: Blessed art thou who hast
beheld Sebek my Lord in his glory. Many are the champions of life, but all
are unhorsed by the lance of death. Many are the children of the light, but
their eyes shall all be put out by the Mother Darkness. Many are the servants
of love, but love (that is not quenched by aught but love) shall be put out,
as the child taketh the wick of a taper between his thumb and finger, by the
god that sitteth alone.
And on her mouth, like a chrysanthemum of radiant light, is a kiss, and on
it is the monogram I.H.S. The letters I.H.S. mean In Homini Salus and Instar
Hominis Summus, and Imago Hominis deuS. And there are many, many other
meanings, but they all imply this one thing; that nothing is of any importance
but man; there is no hope or help but in man.
And she says: Sweet are my kisses, O wayfarer that wanderest from star to
star. Sweet are my kisses, O householder that weariest within four walls.
Thou art pent within thy brain, and my shaft pierceth it, and thou art free.
Thine imagination eateth up the universe as the dragon that eateth up the
moon. And in my shaft is it concentrated and bound up. See how all around
thee gather my warriors, strong knights in goodly armour ready for war. Look
upon my crown; it is above the stars. Behold the glow and the blush thereof!
Upon thy cheek is the breeze that stirs those plumes of truth. For though I
am the Angel of the fourteenth key, I am also the Angel of the eighth key.
And from the love of these two have I come, who am the warden of Pop? and the
servant of them that dwell therein. Though all crowns fall, mine shall {49}
not fall; for my plumes reach up unto the Knees of Him that sitteth upon the
holy throne, and liveth and reigneth for ever and ever as the balance of
righteousness and truth. I am the Angel of the moon. I am the veiled one
that sitteth between the pillars veiled with a shining veil, and on my lap is
the open Book of the mysteries of the ineffable light. I am the aspiration
unto the higher; I am the love of the unknown. I am the blind ache within the
heart of man. I am the minister of the sacrament of pain. I swing the censer
of worship, and I sprinkle the waters of purification. I am the daughter of
the house of the invisible. I am the Priestess of the Silver Star.
And she catches me up to her as a mother catches her babe, and holds me up
in her left arm, and sets my lips to her breast. And upon her breast is
written: "Rosa Mundi est Lilium Coeli."
And I look down upon the open Book of the mysteries, and it is open at the
page on which is the Holy Table with the twelve squares in the midst. It
radiates a blaze of light, too dazzling to make out the characters, and a
voice says: "Non haec piscis omnium."
(To interpret that, we must think of 'Iota chi theta upsilon sigma , which does not
conceal "Iesous Christos Theon Uios Soter" as traditionally asserted, but is a
mystery of the letter Nun and the letter Qoph, as may be seen by adding it up.
'Iota chi theta upsilon sigma is only connected with Christianity because it was a
hieroglyph of syphilis, which the Romans supposed to have been brought from
Syria; and it seems to have been confounded with leprosy, which also they
thought was caused by fish-eating. {50}
One important meaning of 'Iota chi theta upsilon sigma : it is formed of the
initials of five Egyptian deities and also of five Greek deities: in both
cases a magic formula of tremendous power is concealed.
As to the Holy Table itself, I cannot see it for the blaze of light; but I
am given to understand that it appears in another Aethyr, of which it forms
practically the whole content. And I am bidden to study the Holy Table very
intently so as to be able to concentrate on it when it appears.
I have grown greater, so that I am as great as the Angel. And we are
standing, as if crucified, face to face, our hands and lips and breasts and
knees and feet together, and her eyes pierce into my eyes like whirling shafts
of steel, so that I fall backwards headlong through the Aethyr --- and there
is a sudden and tremendous shout, absolutely stunning, cold and brutal:
Osiris was a black god!6 And the Aethyr claps its hands, greater than the
peal of a thousand mighty thunders.
I am back.
BOU-SAADA.
"November" 30, 1909 10-11.45 p.m.
The Cry of the 18th Aethyr, Which is Called ZEN
A Voice comes before any vision: Accursed are they who enter herein if
they have nails, for they shall be pierced therewith; or if they have thorns,
for they shall be crowned withal; or if they have whips, for with whips they
shall be scourged: or if they bear wine, for their wine shall be turned to
bitterness; or if they have a spear, for with a spear shall they be pierced
unto the heart. And the nails are desires, of which {51} there are three; the
desire of light, the desire of life, the desire of love.
6 The Doctrine implied is that one must not be the child, but the
Mother.
(And the thorns are thoughts, and the whips are regrets, and the wine is
ease, or perhaps unsteadiness, especially in ecstasy, and the spear is
attachment.)
And now there dawns the scene of the Crucifixion; but the Crucified One is
an enormous bat, and for the two thieves are two little children. It is
night, and the night is full of hideous things and howlings.
And an angel cometh forth, and saith: Be wary, for if thou change so much
as the style of a letter, the holy word is blasphemed. But enter into the
mountain of the Caverns, for that this (how much more then that Calvary which
mocks it, as his ape mocks Thoth?) is but the empty shell of the mystery of
ZEN. Verily, I say unto thee, many are the adepts that have looked upon the
back parts of my father, and cried, "our eyes fail before the glory of thy
countenance."
And with that he gives the sign of the rending of the veil, and tears down
the vision. And behold! whirling columns of fiery light, seventy-two. Upon
them is supported a mountain of pure crystal. The mountain is a cone, the
angle of the apex being sixty degrees. And within the crystal is a pyramid of
ruby, like unto the Great Pyramid of Gizeh.
I am entered in by the little door thereof, and I am come into the chamber
of the king, which is fashioned like unto the vault of the adepts, or rather
it is fitting to say that the vault of the adepts is a vile imitation of it.
For there are four sides to the chamber, which with the roof and the floor and
the chamber itself makes seven. So also is the pastos seven, {52} for that
which is within is like unto that which is without. And there is no
furniture, and there are no symbols.
Light streams from every side upon the pastos. This light is that blue of
Horus which we know, but being refined it is brilliance. For the light of
Horus only appears blue because of the imperfection of our eyes. But though
the light pours from the pastos, yet the pastos remains perfectly dark, so
that it is invisible. It hath no form: only, at a certain point in the
chamber, the light is beaten back.
I lie prostate upon the ground before this mystery. Its splendour is
impossible to describe. I can only say that its splendour is so great that my
heart stops with the terror and the wonder and the rapture of it. I am almost
mad. A million insane images chase each other through my brain... A voice
comes: (it is my own voice -- I did not know it). "When thou shalt know me, O
thou empty God, my little flame shall utterly expire in thy great N.O.X."
There is no answer. ... (20 minutes. O.V.) ...
And now, after so long a while, the Angel7 lifts me, and takes me from the
room, and sets me in a little chamber where is another Angel like a fair youth
in shining garments, who makes me partake of the sacraments; bread, that is
labour; and fire, that is wit; and a rose, that is sin; and wine, that is
death. And all about us is a great company of angels in many-coloured robes,
rose and spring-green, and sky-blue, and pale gold, and silver, and lilac,
solemnly chanting without words. It is music wonderful beyond all that can be
thought.
And now we go out of the chamber; on the right is a pylon, and the right
figure is Isis, and the left figure {53} Nephthys, and they are folding their
wings over, and supporting Ra.
I wanted to go back to the King's Chamber. The Angel pushed me away,
saying: "Thou shalt see these visions from afar off, but thou shalt not
partake of them save in the manner prescribed. For if thou change so much as
the style of a letter, the holy word is blasphemed."
And this is the manner prescribed:
Let there be a room furnished as for the ritual of passing through the
Tuat. And let the aspirant be clad in the robes of, and let him bear the
insignia of his grade. And at the least he shall be a neophyte.
Three days and three nights shall he have been in the tomb, vigilant and
fasting, for he shall sleep no longer than three hours at any one time, and he
7 No Angel has been mentioned. The Seer was lost to being.
shall drink pure water, and eat little sweet cakes consecrated unto the moon,
and fruits, and the eggs of the duck, or of the goose, or of the plover. And
he shall be shut in, so that no man may break in upon his meditation. But in
the last twelve hours he shall neither eat nor sleep.
Then shall he break his fast, eating rich food, and drinking sweet wines,
and wines that foam; and he shall banish the elements and the planets and the
signs and the sephiroth; and then shall he take the holy table that he hath
made for his altar, and he shall take the call of the Aethyr of which he will
partake, which he hath written in the angelic character, or in the character
of the holy alphabet that is revealed in Pop?, upon a fair sheet of virgin
vellum; and therewith shall he conjure the Aethyr, chanting the call. And in
the lamp that is hung above the altar shall he burn the call that he hath
written. {54}
Then shall he kneel before the holy table, and it shall be given him to
partake of the mystery of the Aethyr.
And concerning the ink with which he shall write; for the first Aethyr let
it be gold, for the second scarlet, for the third violet, for the fourth
emerald, for the fifth silver, for the sixth sapphire, for the seventh orange,
for the eighth indigo, for the ninth gray, for the tenth black, for the
eleventh maroon, for the twelfth russet, for the thirteenth green-gray, for
the fourteenth amber, for the fifteenth olive, for the sixteenth pale blue,
for the seventeenth crimson, for the eighteenth bright yellow, for the
nineteenth crimson adorned with silver, for the twentieth mauve, for the
twenty-first pale green, for the twenty-second rose-madder, for the twenty-
third violet cobalt, for the twenty-fourth beetle-brown, blue-brown colour,
for the twenty-fifth a cold dark gray, for the twenty-sixth white flecked with
red, blue, and yellow; the edges of the letters shall be green, for the
twenty-seventh angry clouds of ruddy brown, for the twenty-eighth indigo, for
the twenty-ninth bluish-green, for the thirtieth mixed colours.
This shall be the form to be used by him who would partake of the mystery
of any Aethyr. And let him not change so much as the style of a letter, lest
the holy word be blasphemed.
And let him beware, after he hath been permitted to partake of this
mystery, that he await the completion of the 91st hour of his retirement,
before he open the door of the place of his retirement; lest he contaminate
his glory with uncleanness, and lest they that behold him be smitten by his
glory unto death.
For this is a holy mystery, and he that did first attain to {55} reveal the
alphabet thereof, perceived not one ten-thousandth part of the fringe that is
upon its vesture.
Come away! for the clouds are gathered together, and the Aire heaveth like
the womb of a woman in travail. Come away! lest he loose the lightnings from
his hand, and unleash his hounds of thunder. Come away! For the voice of the
Aethyr is accomplished. Come away! For the seal of His loving-kindness is
made sure. And let there be praise and blessing unspeakable unto him that
sitteth upon the Holy Throne, for he casteth down mercies as a spendthrift
that scattereth gold. And he hath shut up judgment and hidden it away as a
miser that hoardeth coins of little worth.
All this while the Angel hath been pushing me backwards, and now he is
turned into a golden cross with a rose at its heart, and that is the red cross
wherein is set the golden shewstone.
BOU-SAADA.
"December" 1, 1909. 2.30 - 4.10 p.m.
THE CRY OF THE 17TH AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED TAN
Into the stone there first cometh the head of a dragon, and then the Angel
Madimi. She is not the mere elemental that one would suppose from the account
of Casaubon. I enquire why her form is different.
She says: Since all things are God, in all things thou seest just so much
of God as thy capacity affordeth thee. But behold! Thou must pierce deeply
into this Aethyr before true images appear. For TAN is that which
transformeth {56} judgment into justice. BAL is the sword, and TAN the
balances.
A pair of balances appears in the stone, and on the bar of the balance is
written: Motion about a point is iniquity.
And behind the balances is a plume, luminous, azure. And somehow connected
with the plume, but I cannot divine how, are these words: Breath is iniquity.
(That is, any wind must stir the feather of truth.)
And behind the plume is a shining filament of quartz, suspended vertically
from the abyss to the abyss. And in the midst is a winged disk of some
extremely delicate, translucent substance, on which is written in the "dagger"
alphabet: Torsion is iniquity. (This means, that the Rashith Ha-Gilgalim is
the first appearance of evil.)
And now an Angel appears, like as he were carven in black diamonds. And he
cries: Woe unto the Second, whom all nations of men call the First. Woe unto
the First, whom all grades of Adepts call the First. Woe unto me, for I, even
as they, have worshipped him. But she is whose paps are the galaxies, and he
that never shall be known, in them is no motion. For the infinite Without
filleth all and moveth not, and the infinite Within goeth indeed; but it is no
odds, else were the space-marks confounded.
And now the Angel is but a shining speck of blackness in the midst of a
tremendous sphere of liquid and vibrating light, at first gold, then becoming
green, and lastly pure blue. And I see that the green of Libra is made up of
the yellow of air and the blue of water, swords and cups, judgment and mercy.
And this word TAN meaneth mercy. And the feather of Maat is blue because the
truth of justice is mercy. And a {57} voice cometh, as it were the music of
the ripples of the surface of the sphere: Truth is delight. (This means that
the Truth of the universe is delight.)
Another voice cometh; it is the voice of a mighty Angel, all in silver; the
scales of his armour and the plumes of his wings are like mother-of-pearl in a
framework of silver. And he sayeth: Justice is the equity that ye have made
for yourselves between truth and falsehood. But in Truth there is nothing of
this, for there is only Truth. Your falsehood is but a little falser than
your truth. Yet by your truth shall ye come to Truth. Your truth is your
troth with Adonai the Beloved one. And the Chymical Marriage of the
Alchemists beginneth with a Weighing, and he that is not found wanting hath
within him one spark of fire, so dense and so intense that it cannot be moved,
through all the winds of heaven should clamour against it, and all the waters
of the abyss surge against it, and all the multitude of the earths heap
themselves upon it to smother it. Nay, it shall not be moved.
And this is the fire of which it is written: "Hear thou the voice of fire!"
And the voice of fire is the second chapter of the Book of the Law, that is
revealed unto him that is a score and half a score and three that are scores,
and six, by Aiwass, that is his guardian, the mighty Angel that extendeth from
the first unto the last, and maketh known the mysteries that are beyond. And
the method and the form of invocation whereby a man shall attain to the
knowledge and conversation of his Holy Guardian Angel shall be given unto thee
in the proper place, and seeing that the word is deadlier than lightning, do
thou meditate straitly thereupon, solitary, in a place where is no living
thing visible, but only the light of the sun. And {58} thy head shall be
bare.8 Thus mayest thou become fitted to receive this, the holiest of the
Mysteries. And it is the holiest of the Mysteries because it is the Next
Step. And those Mysteries which lie beyond, though they be holier, are not
8 This I performed in a sort of cave upon the ridge of a great
mountain in the Desert near Bou-S?ada at 12-3 p.m. on December 2.
holy unto thee, but only remote. (The sense of this passage seems to be, that
the holiness of a thing implies its personal relation with one, just as one
cannot blaspheme an unknown god, because one does not know what to say to
annoy him. And this explains the perfect inefficiency of those who try to
insult the saints; the most violent attacks are very often merely clumsy
compliments.)
Now the Angel is spread completely over the globe, a dewy film of silver
upon that luminous blue.
And a great voice cries: Behold the Queen of Heaven, how she hath woven her
robes from the loom of justice. For as that straight path of the Arrow
cleaving the Rainbow became righteousness in her that sitteth in the hall of
double truth, so at last is she exalted unto the throne of the High Priestess,
the Priestess of the Silver Star, wherein also is thine Angel made manifest.
And this is the mystery of the camel that is ten days in the desert, and is
not athirst, because he hath within him that water which is the dew distilled
from the the night of Nuit. Triple is the cord of silver, that it may be not
loosed; and three score and half a score and three is the number of the name
of my name, for that the ineffable wisdom, that also is of the sphere of the
stars, informeth me. Thus am I crowned with the triangle that is about the
eye, and therefore is my number three. And in me there is no {59}
imperfection, because through me descendeth the influence of TARO. And that
is also the number of Aiwass the mighty Angel, the Minister of Silence.
And even as the shew-stone burneth thy forehead with its intolerable flame,
so he who hath known me, though but from afar, is marked out and chosen among
men, and he shall never turn back or turn aside, for he hath made the link
that is not to be broken, nay, not by the malice of the Four Great Princes of
evil of the world, nor by Chorozon, that mighty Devil, nor by the wrath of
God, nor by the affliction and feebleness of the soul.
Yet with this assurance be not thou content; for though thou hast the wings
of the Eagle, they are vain, except they be joined to the shoulders of the
Bull. Now, therefore, I send forth a shaft of my light, even as a ladder let
down from the heaven upon the earth, and by this black cross of Themis that I
hold before thine eyes, do I swear unto thee that the path shall be open
henceforth for evermore.
There is a clash of a myriad silver cymbals, and silence. And then three
times a note is struck upon a bell, which sounds like my holy Tibetan bell,
that is made of electrum magicum.
I am happily returned unto the earth.
BOU-SAADA.
"December" 2, 1909. 12.15 - 2 a.m.
THE CRY OF THE 16TH AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED LEA
There are faint and flickering images in a misty landscape, all very
transient. But the general impression is of moonrise at midnight, and a
crowned virgin riding upon a bull. {60}
And they come up into the surface of the stone. And she is singing a chant
of praise: Glory unto him that hath taken upon himself the image of toil. For
by his labour is my labour accomplished. For I, being a woman, lust ever to
mate myself with some beast. And this is the salvation of the world, that
always I am deceived by some god, and that my child is the guardian of the
labyrinth that hath two-and-seventy paths.
Now she is gone.
And now there are Angels, walking up and down in the stone. They are the
Angels of the Holy Sevenfold Table. It seems that they are waiting for the
Angel of the Aethyr to come forth.
Now at last he appears in the gloom. He is a mighty King, with crown and
orb and sceptre, and his robes are of purple and gold. And he casts down the
orb and sceptre to the earth, and he tears off his crown, and throws it on the
ground, and tramples it. And he tears out his hair, that is of ruddy gold
tinged with silver, and he plucks at his beard, and cries with a terrible
voice: Woe unto me that am cast down from my place by the might of the new
Aeon. For the ten palaces are broken, and the ten kings are carried away into
bondage, and they are set to fight as the gladiators in the circus of him that
hath laid his hand upon eleven. For the ancient tower is shattered by the
Lord of the Flame and the Lightning. And they that walk upon their hands
shall build the holy place. Blessed are they who have turned the Eye of Hoor
unto the zenith, for they shall be filled with the vigour of the goat.
All that was ordered and stable is shaken. The Aeon of {61} Wonders is
come. Like locusts shall they gather themselves together, the servants of the
Star and of the Snake, and they shall eat up everything that is upon the
earth. For why? Because the Lord of Righteousness delighteth in them.
The prophets shall prophesy monstrous things, and the wizards shall perform
monstrous things. The sorceress shall be desired of all men, and the
enchanter shall rule the earth.
Blessing unto the name of the Beast, for he hath let loose a mighty flood
of fire from his manhood, and from his womanhood hath he let loose a mighty
flood of water. Every thought of his mind is as a tempest that uprooteth the
great trees of the earth, and shaketh the mountains thereof. And the throne
of his spirit is a mighty throne of madness and desolation, so that they that
look upon it shall cry: Behold the abomination!
Of a single ruby shall that throne be built, and it shall be set upon a
high mountain, and men shall see it afar off. Then will I gather together my
chariots and my horsemen and my ships of war. By sea and land shall my armies
and my navies encompass it, and I will encamp round about it, and besiege it,
and by the flame thereof shall I be utterly devoured. Many lying spirits have
I sent into the world that my Aeon might be established, and they shall be all
overthrown.
Great is the Beast that cometh forth like a lion, the servant of the Star
and of the Snake. He is the Eternal one; He is the Almighty one. Blessed are
they upon whom he shall look with favour, for nothing shall stand before his
face. Accursed are they upon whom he shall look with derision, for nothing
shall stand before his face.
And every mystery that hath not been revealed from the {62} foundation of
the world he shall reveal unto his chosen. And they shall have power over
every spirit of the Ether; and of the earth and under the earth; on dry land
and in the water; of whirling air and of rushing fire. And they shall have
power over all the inhabitants of the earth, and every scourge of God shall be
subdued beneath their feet. The angels shall come unto them and walk with
them, and the great gods of heaven shall be their guests.
But I must sit apart, with dust upon my head, discrowned and desolate. I
must lurk in forbidden corners of the earth. I must plot secretly in the by-
ways of great cities, in the fog, and in marshes of the rivers of pestilence.
And all my cunning shall not serve me. And all my undertakings shall be
brought to naught. And all the ministers of the Beast shall catch me and tear
out my tongue with pincers of red-hot iron, and they shall brand my forehead
with the word of derision, and they shall shave my head, and pluck out my
beard, and make a show of me.
And the spirit of prophecy shall come upon me despite me ever and anon, as
even now upon my heart and upon my throat; and upon my tongue seared with
strong acid are the words: "Vim patior." For so must I give glory to him that
hath supplanted me, that hath cast me down into the dust. I have hated him,
and with hate my bones are rotten. I would have spat upon him, and my spittle
hath befouled my beard. I have taken up the sword against him, and I am
fallen upon it, and mine entrails are about my feet.
Who shall strive with his might? Hath he not the sword and the spear of
the Warrior Lord of the Sun? Who shall contend with him? Who shall lift
himself up against him? {63} For the latchet of his sandal is more than the
helmet of the Most High. Who shall reach up to him in supplication, save
those that he shall set upon his shoulders? Would God that my tongue were
torn out by the roots, and my throat cut across, and my heart torn out and
given to the vultures, before I say this that I must say: Blessing and Worship
to the Prophet of the Lovely Star!
And now he is fallen quite to the ground, in a heap, and dust is upon his
head; and the throne upon which he sat is shattered into many pieces.
And dimly dawning in this unutterable gloom, far, far above, is the face
that is the face of a man and of a woman, and upon the brow is a circle, and
upon the breast is a circle, and in the palm of the right hand is a circle.
Gigantic is his stature, and he hath the Uraeus crown, and the leopard's skin,
and the flaming orange apron of a god. And invisibly about him is Nuit, and
in his heart is Hadit, and between his feet is the great god Ra Hoor Khuit.
And in his right hand is a flaming wand, and in his left a book. Yet is he
silent; and that which is understood between him and me shall not be revealed
in this place. And the mystery shall be revealed to whosoever shall say, with
ecstasy of worship in his heart, with a clear mind, and a passionate body: It
is the voice of a god, and not of a man.
And now all that glory hath withdrawn itself; and the old King lies
prostate, abject.
And the virgin that rode upon the bull cometh forth, led by all those
Angels of the Holy Sevenfold Table, and they are dancing round her with
garlands and sheaves of flowers, loose robes and hair dancing in the wind.
And she smiles upon me {64} with infinite brilliance, so that the whole Aethyr
flushes warm, and she says with a subtle sub-meaning, pointing downwards: By
this, that.
And I took her hand and kissed it, and I say to her: Am I not nearly purged
of the iniquity of my forefathers?
With that she bends down, and kisses me on the mouth, and says: "Yet a
little, and on thy left arm shalt thou carry a man-child, and give him to
drink of the milk of thy breasts. But I go dancing."
And I wave my hand, and the Aethyr is empty and dark, and I bow myself
before it in the sign that I, and only I, may know. And I sink through waves
of blackness, poised on an eagle, down, down, down.
And I give the sign that only I may know.
And now there is nothing in the stone but the black cross of Themis, and on
it these words: Memento: Sequor. (These words probably mean that the
Equinox of Horus is to be followed by that of Themis.)
BOU-SAADA.
"December" 2, 1909. 4.50 - 6.5 p.m.
THE CRY OF THE 15TH AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED OXO
There appears immediately in the Aethyr a tremendous column of scarlet
fire, whirling forth, rebounding, crying aloud. And about it are four columns
of green and blue and gold and silver, each inscribed with writings in the
character of the dagger. And the column of fire is dancing among the pillars.
Now it seems that the fire is but the skirt of the dancer, and the dancer is a
mighty god. The vision is overpowering. {65}
As the dancer whirls, she chants in a strange, slow voice, quickening as
she goes: Lo! I gather up every spirit that is pure, and weave him into my
vesture of flame. I lick up the lives of men, and their souls sparkle from
mine eyes. I am the mighty sorceress, the lust of the spirit. And by my
dancing I gather for my mother Nuit the heads of all them that are baptized in
the waters of life. I am the lust of the spirit that eateth up the soul of
man. I have prepared a feast for the adepts, and they that partake thereof
shall see God.
Now it is clear what she has woven in her dance; it is the Crimson Rose of
49 Petals, and the Pillars are the Cross with which it is conjoined. And
between the pillars shoot out rays of pure green fire; and now all the pillars
are golden. She ceases to dance, and dwindles, gathering herself into the
centre of the Rose.
Now it is seen that the Rose is a vast ampitheatre, with seven tiers, each
tier divided into seven partitions. And they that sit in the Amphitheatre are
the seven grades of the Order of the Rosy Cross. This Amphitheatre is built
of rose-coloured marble, and of its size I can say only that the sun might be
used as a ball to be thrown by the players in the arena. But in the arena
there is a little altar of emerald, and its top has the heads of the Four
Beasts, in turquoise and rock-crystal. And the floor of the arena is ridged
like a grating of lapis lazuli. And it is full of pure quicksilver.
Above the altar is a veiled Figure, whose name is Pan. Those in the outer
tier adore him as a Man; and in the next tier they adore him as a Goat; and in
the next tier they adore him as a Ram; and in the next tier they adore him as
a Crab; {66} and in the next tier they adore him as an Ibis; and in the next
tier they adore him as a Golden Hawk; and in the next tier they adore him not.
And now the light streameth out from the altar, splashed out by the feet of
him that is above it. It is the Holy Twelve-fold Table of OIT.
The voice of him that is above the altar is silence, but the echo thereof
cometh back from the walls of the circus, and is speech. And this is the
speech: Three and four are the days of a quarter of the moon, and on the
seventh day is the sabbath, but thrice four is the Sabbath of the Adepts
whereof the form is revealed in the Aethyr ZID; that is the eighth of the
Aires. And the mysteries of the Table shall not be wholly revealed, nor shall
they be revealed herein. But thou shalt gather of the sweat of thy brow a
pool of clear water wherein this shall be revealed. And of the oil that thou
burnest in the midnight shall be gathered together thirteen rivers of
blessing; and of the oil and the water I will prepare a wine to intoxicate the
young men and the maidens.
And now the Table is become the universe; every star is a letter of the
Book of Enoch. And the Book of Enoch is drawn therefrom by an inscrutable
Mystery, that is known only to the Angels and the Holy Sevenfold Table. While
I have been gazing upon this table, an Adept has come forth, one from each
tier, except the inmost Tier.
And the first drove a dagger into my heart, and tasted the blood, and said:
chi alpha theta alpha rho omicron sigma , chi alpha theta alpha rho omicron sigma ,
chi alpha theta alpha rho omicron sigma , chi alpha theta alpha rho omicron sigma ,
chi alpha theta alpha rho omicron sigma , chi alpha theta alpha rho omicron sigma .
And the second Adept has been testing the muscles of my right arm and
shoulder, and he says: fortis, fortis, fortis, fortis, fortis. {67}
And the third Adept examines the skin and tastes the sweat of my left arm,
and says:
TAN, TAN, TAN, TAN.
And the fourth Adept examines my neck, and seems to approve, though he says
nothing; and he hath opened the right half of my brain, and he makes some
examination, and says: "Samajh, samajh, samajh."
And the fifth Adept examines the left half of my brain, and then holds up
his hand in protest, and says "PLA . . ." (I cannot get the sentence, but the
meaning is: In the thick darkness the seed awaiteth spring.)
And now am I again rapt in contemplation of that universe of letters which
are stars.
The words ORLO, ILRO, TULE are three most secret names of God. They are
Magick names, each having an interpretation of the same kind as the
interpretation of I.N.R.I., and the name OIT, RLU, LRL, OOE are other names of
God, that contain magical formulae, the first to invoke fire; the second,
water; the third, air; and the fourth, earth.
And if the Table be read diagonally, every letter, and every combination of
letters, is the name of a devil. And from these are drawn the formulae of
evil magick. But the holy letter I above the triad LLL dominateth the Table,
and preserveth the peace of the universe.
And in the seven talismans about the central Table are contained the
Mysteries of drawing forth the letters. And the letters of the circumference
declare in glory of Nuit, that beginneth from Aries9. {68}
All this while the Adepts must have been chanting as it were an oratorio
for seven instruments. And this oratorio hath one dominant theme of rapture.
Yet it applieth to every detail of the universe as well as to the whole. And
herein is Choronzon brought utterly to ruin, that all his work is against his
will, not only in the whole, but in every part thereof, even as a fly that
walketh upon a beryl-stone.
And the tablet blazeth ever brighter till it filleth the whole Aire. And
behold! there is is one God therein, and the letters of the stars in his
crown, Orion, and the Pleiades, and Aldebaran, and Alpha Centauri, and Cor
Leonis, and Cor Scorpionis, and Spica, and the pole-star, and Hercules, and
Regulus, and Aquila, and the Ram's Eye.
And upon a map of the stars shalt thou draw the sigil of that name; and
because also some of the letters are alike, thou shalt know that the stars
also have tribes and nations. The letter of a star is but the totem thereof.
And the letter representeth not the whole nature of the star, but each star
must be known by itself in the wisdom of him that hath the Cynocephalus in
leash.
And this pertaineth unto the grade of a Magus --- and that is beyond thine.
(All this is communicated not by voice, or by writing; and there is no form in
the stone, but only the brilliance of the Table. And now I am withdrawn from
all that, but the Rosy Cross of 49 petals is set upright upon the summit of a
pyramid, and all is dark, because of the exceeding light behind.)
And there cometh a voice: The fly cried unto the ox, "Beware! Strengthen
thyself. Set thy feet firmly upon the earth, for it is my purpose to alight
between thy shoulders, {69} and I would not harm thee." So also are they who
wish well unto the Masters of the Pyramid.
And the bee said unto the flower: "Give me of thine honey," and the flower
gave richly thereof; but the bee, though he wit it not, carried the seed of
the flower into many fields of sun. So also are they that take unto
themselves the Masters of the Pyramid for servants.
Now the exceeding light that was behind the Pyramid, and the Rosy Cross
that is set thereon, hath fulfilled the whole Aire. The black Pyramid is like
the back of a black diamond. Also the Rosy Cross is loosened, and the petals
of the Rose are the mingled hues of sunset and of dawn; and the Cross is the
Golden light of noon, and in the heart of the Rose there is the secret light
that men call midnight.
And a voice: "Glory to God and thanksgiving to God, and there is no God but
God. And He is exalted; He is great; and in the Sevenfold Table is His Name
writ openly, and in the Twelvefold Table is His Name concealed."
And the Pyramid casts a shadow of itself into the sky, and the shadow
spreads over the whole stone. And an angel clad in blue and scarlet, with
golden wings and plumes of purple fire, comes forth and scatters disks of
green and gold, filing all the Aire. And they become swiftly-whirling wheels,
singing together.
And the voice of the angel cries: Gather up thy garments about thee10, O
thou that hast entered the circle of the Sabbath; for in thy grave-clothes
shouldest thou behold the resurrection. {70}
The flesh hangeth upon thee like his rags upon a beggar that is a pilgrim
to the shrine of the Exalted One. Nevertheless, bear them bravely, and
rejoice in the beauty thereof, for the company of the pilgrims is a glad
company, and they have no care, and with song and dance and wine and fair
9 Note that the corner letters in this table are all B = Leo.
10 Since the examination in the amphitheatre I have been a naked
spirit without garments or anything; by garments he means the
body.
women do they make merry. And every hostel is their place, and every maid
their queen.
Gather up thy garments about thee, I say, for the voice of the Aethyr, that
is the voice of the Aeon, is ended, and thou art absorbed into the lesser
night, and caught in the web of the light of thy mother in the word
ABRADAHARBA.
And now the five and the six are divorced, and I am come again within my
body.
BOU-SAADA.
"December" 3, 1909. 9.15 to 11.10 a.m.
THE CRY OF THE 14TH AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED UTI
There come into the stone a white goat, a green dragon, and a tawny bull.
But they pass away immediately. There is a veil of such darkness before the
Aethyr that it seems impossible to pierce it. But there is a voice saying:
Behold, the Great One of the Night of Time stirreth, and with his tail he
churneth up the slime, and of the foam thereof shall he make stars. And in
the battle of the Python and the Sphinx shall the glory be to the Sphinx, but
the victory to the Python.
Now the veil of darkness is formed of a very great number of exceedingly
fine black veils, and one tears them off one at a time. And the voice says,
There is no light or knowledge or beauty or stability in the Kingdom of the
Grave, whither {71} thou goest. And the worm is crowned. All that thou wast
hath he eaten up, and all that thou art is his pasture until to-morrow. And
all that thou shalt be is nothing. Thou who wouldst enter the domain of the
Great One of the Night of Time, this burden must thou take up. Deepen not a
superficies.
But I go on tearing down the veil that I may behold the vision of UTI, and
hear the voice thererof. And there is a voice: He hath drawn the black bean.
And another voice answers it: Not otherwise could he plant the Rose. And the
first voice: He hath drunk of the waters of death. The answer: Not otherwise
could he water the Rose. And the first voice: He hath burnt himself at the
Fires of life. And the answer: Not otherwise could he sun the Rose. And the
first voice is so faint that I cannot hear it. But the answer is: Not
otherwise could he pluck the Rose.
And still I go on, struggling with the blackness. Now there is an
earthquake. The veil is torn into thousands of pieces that go flying away in
a whirling wind. And there is an all-glorious Angel before me, standing in
the sign of Apophis and Typhon. On his Forehead is a star, but all about him
is darkness, and the crying of beasts. And there are lamps moving in the
darkness.
And the Angel says: Depart! For thou must invoke me only in the darkness.
Therein will I appear, and reveal unto thee the Mystery of UTI. For the
Mystery thereof is great and terrible. And it shall not be spoken in sight of
the sun.
Therefore I withdraw myself. (Thus far the vision upon Da'leh Addin, a
mountain in the desert near Bou-S?ada.)
December 3, 2.50-3.15 p.m.
"The Angel re-appears."
The blackness gathers about, so thick, so clinging, so penetrating, so
oppressive, that all the other darkness that I have ever conceived would be
like bright light beside it.
His voice comes in a whisper: O thou that art master of the fifty gates of
Understanding, is not my mother a black woman? O thou that art master of the
Pentagram, is not the egg of spirit a black egg? Here abideth terror, and the
blind ache of the Soul, and lo! even I, who am the sole light, a spark shut
up, stand in the sign of Apophis and Typhon.
I am the snake that devoureth the spirit of man with the lust of light. I
am the sightless storm in the night that wrappeth the world about with
desolation. Chaos is my name, and thick darkness. Know thou that the
darkness of the earth is ruddy, and the darkness of the air is grey, but the
darkness of the soul is utter blackness.
The egg of the spirit is a basilisk egg, and the gates of the understanding
are fifty, that is the sign of the Scorpion. The pillars about the neophyte
are crowned with flame, and the vault of the Adepts is lighted by the Rose.
And in the abyss is the eye of the hawk. But upon the great sea shall the
Master of the Temple find neither star nor moon.
And I was about to answer him: "The light is within me." But before I
could frame the words, he answered me with the great word that is the Key of
the Abyss. And he said: Thou hast entered the night; dost thou yet lust for
day? Sorrow is my name, and affliction. I am girt about with tribulation.
Here still hangs the Crucified One, and here the Mother weeps over the
children that she hath not borne. Sterility is {73} my name, and desolation.
Intolerable is thine ache, and incurable thy wound. I said, Let the darkness
cover me; and behold, I am compassed about with the blackness that hath no
name. O thou, who hast cast down the light into the earth, so must thou do
for ever. And the light of the sun shall not shine upon thee, and the moon
shall not lend thee of her lustre, and the stars shall be hidden, because thou
art passed beyond these things, beyond the need of these things, beyond the
desire of these things.
What I thought were shapes of rocks, rather felt than seen, now appear to
be veiled Masters, sitting absolutely still and silent. Nor can any one be
distinguished from the others.
And the Angel sayeth: Behold where thine Angel hath led thee! Thou didst
ask fame, power and pleasure, health and wealth and love, and strength, and
length of days. Thou didst hold life with eight tentacles, like an octopus.
Thou didst seek the four powers and the seven delights and the twelve
emancipations and the two and twenty Privileges and the nine and forty
Manifestations, and lo! thou art become as one of These. Bowed are their
backs, whereon resteth the universe. Veiled are their faces, that have beheld
the glory Ineffable.
These adepts seem like Pyramids --- their hoods and robes are like
Pyramids.
And the Angel sayeth: Verily is the Pyramid a Temple of Initiation. Verily
also is it a tomb. Thinkest thou that there is life within the Masters of the
Temple, that sit hooded, encamped upon the Sea? Verily, there is no life in
them.
Their sandals were the pure light, and they have taken {74} them from their
feet and cast them down through the abyss, for this Aethyr is holy ground.
Herein no forms appear, and the vision of God face to face, that is
transmuted in the Athanor called dissolution, or hammered into one in the
forge of meditation, is in this place but a blasphemy and a mockery.
And the Beatific Vision is no more, and the glory of the Most High is no
more. There is no more knowledge. There is no more bliss. There is no more
power. There is no more beauty. For this is the Palace of Understanding: for
thou art one with the Primeval things.
Drink in the myrrh of my speech, that is bruised with the gall of the roc,
and dissolved in the ink of the cuttle-fish, and perfumed with the deadly
nightshade.
This is thy wine, who wast drunk upon the wine of Iacchus. And for bread
shalt thou eat salt, O thou on the corn of Ceres that didst wax fat! For as
pure being is pure nothing, so is pure wisdom pure ---,11 and so is pure
understanding silence, and stillness, and darkness. The eye is called
11 I suppose that only a Magus could have heard this word.
seventy, and the triple Aleph whereby thou perceivest it, divideth into the
number of the terrible word that is the Key of the Abyss.
I am Hermes, that am sent from the Father to expound all things discreetly
in these the last words that thou shalt hear before thou take thy seat among
these, whose eyes are sealed up, and whose ears are stopped, and whose mouths
are clenched, who are folded in upon themselves, the liquor of whose bodies is
dried up, so that nothing remains but a little pyramid of dust.
And that bright light of comfort, and that piercing sword {75} of truth,
and all that power and beauty that they have made of themselves, is cast from
them, as it is written, "I saw Satan like lightning fall from Heaven." And as
a flaming sword is it dropt through the abyss, where the four beasts keep
watch and ward. And it appeareth in the heaven of Jupiter as a morning star,
or as an evening star. And the light thereof shineth even unto the earth, and
bringeth hope and help to them that dwell in the darkness of thought, and
drink of the poison of life. Fifty are the gates of understanding, and one
hundred and six are the seasons thereof. And the name of every season is
Death.
During all this speech, the figure of the Angel has dwindled and flickered,
and now it is gone out.
And I come back in the body, rushing like a flame in a great wind. And the
shew-stone has become warm, and in it is its own light.
BOU-SAADA.
"December" 3, 1909 9.50-11.15 p.m.
THE CRY OF THE 13TH AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED ZIM
Into the Stone there cometh an image of shining waters, glistening in the
sun. Unfathomable is their beauty, for they are limpid, and the floor is of
gold. Yet the sense thereof is of fruitlessness.
And an Angel cometh forth, of pure pale gold, walking upon the water.
Above his head is a rainbow, and the water foams beneath his feet. And he
saith: Before his face am I come that hath the thirty-three thunders of
increase in his hand. From the golden water shalt thou gather corn. {76}
All the Aire behind him is gold, but it opens as it were a veil. There are
two terrible black giants, wrestling in mortal hatred. And there is a little
bird upon a bush, and the bird flaps its wings. Thereat the strength of the
giants snaps, and they fall in heaps to the earth, as though all their bones
were suddenly broken.
And now waves of light roll through the Aethyr, as if they were playing.
Therefore suddenly I am in a garden, upon a terrace of a great castle, that is
upon a rocky mountain. In the garden are fountains and many flowers. There
are girls also in the garden, tall, slim, delicate and pale. And now I see
that the flowers are the girls, for they change from one to another; so
varied, and lucent, and harmonious is all this garden, that it seems like a
great opal.
A voice comes: This water which thou seest is called the water of death.
But NEMO hath filled therefrom our springs.
And I said: Who is NEMO?
And the voice answered: A dolphin's tooth, and a ram's horns, and the hand
of a man that is hanged, and the phallus of a goat. (By this I understand
that nun is explained by shin, and h? by resh, and mem by yod, and ayin by
tau. NEMO is therefore called 165 = 11 x 15; and is in himself 910 = 91 Amen
x 10; and 13 x 70 = The One Eye, "Achad Ayin.")
And now there cometh an Angel into the garden, but he hath not any of the
attributes of the former Angels, for he is like a young man, dressed in white
linen robes.
And he saith: No man hath beheld the face of my Father. Therefore he that
hath beheld it is called NEMO. And know thou that every man that is called
NEMO hath a garden that he tendeth. And every garden that is and flourisheth
hath {77} been prepared from the desert by NEMO, watered with the waters that
were called death.
And I say unto him: To what end is the garden prepared?
And he saith: First for the beauty and delight thereof; and next because it
is written, "And Tetragrammaton Elohim planted a garden eastward in Eden."
And lastly, because though every flower bringeth forth a maiden, yet is there
one flower that shall bring forth a man-child. And his name shall be called
NEMO, when he beholdeth the face of my Father. And he that tendeth the garden
seeketh not to single out the flower that shall be NEMO. He doeth naught but
tend the garden.
And I said: Pleasant indeed is the garden, and light is the toil of tending
it, and great is the reward.
And he said: Bethink thee that NEMO hath beheld the face of my Father. In
Him is only Peace.
And I said: Are all gardens like unto this garden?
And he waved his hand, and in the Aire across the valley appeared an island
of coral, rosy, with green palms and fruit-trees, in the midst of the bluest
of the seas.
And he waved his hand again, and there appeared a valley shut in by mighty
snow mountains, and in it were pleasant streams of water, rushing through, and
broad rivers, and lakes covered with lilies.
And he waved his hand again, and there was a vision, as it were of an oasis
in the desert.
And again he waved his hand, and there was a dim country with grey rocks,
and heather, and gorse, and bracken.
And he waved his hand yet again, and there was a park, and a small house
therein, surrounded by yews. This time {78} the house opens, and I see in it
an old man, sitting by a table. He is blind. Yet he writeth in a great book,
constantly. I see what he is writing: "The words of the Book are as the
leaves of the flowers in the garden. Many indeed of these my songs shall go
forth as maidens, but there is one among them, which one I know not, that
shall be a man-child, whose name shall be NEMO, when he hath beheld the face
of the Father, and become blind."
(All this vision is most extraordinarily pleasant and peaceful, entirely
without strength or ecstasy, or any positive quality, but equally free from
the opposites of any of those qualities.) And the young man seems to read my
thought, which is, that I should love to stay in this garden and do nothing
for ever; for he sayeth to me: Come with me, and behold how NEMO tendeth his
garden.
So we enter the earth, and there is a veiled figure, in absolute darkness.
Yet it is perfectly possible to see in it, so that the minutest details do not
escape us. And upon the root of one flower he pours acid so that that root
writhes as if in torture. And another he cuts, and the shriek is like the
shriek of a mandrake, torn up by the roots. And another he chars with fire,
and yet another he anoints with oil.
And I said: Heavy is the labour, but great indeed is the reward.
And the young man answered me: He shall not see the reward, he tendeth the
garden.
And I said: What shall come unto him?
And he said: This thou canst not know, nor is it revealed by the letters
that are the totems of the stars, but only by the stars.
And he says to me, quite disconnectedly: The man of earth {79} is the
adherent. The lover giveth his life unto the work among men. The hermit
goeth solitary, and giveth only of his light unto men.
And I ask him: Why does he tell me that?
And he says: I tell thee not. Thou tellest thyself, for thou hast pondered
thereupon for many days, and hast not found light. And now that thou art
called NEMO, the answer to every riddle that thou hast not found shall spring
up in thy mind, unsought. Who can tell upon what day a flower shall bloom?
And thou shalt give thy wisdom unto the world, and that shall be thy
garden. And concerning time and death, thou hast naught to do with these
things. For though a precious stone be hidden in the sand of the desert, it
shall not heed for the wind of the desert, although it be but sand. For the
worker of works hath worked thereupon; and because it is clear, it is
invisible; and because it is hard, it moveth not.
All these words are heard by everyone that is called NEMO. And with that
doth he apply himself to understanding. And he must understand the virtue of
the waters of death, and he must understand the virtue of the sun and the
wind, and of the worm that turneth the earth, and the stars that roof in the
garden. And he must understand the separate nature and property of every
flower, or how shall he tend his garden?
And I said to him: Concerning the Vision and the Voice, I would know if
these things be of the essence of the Aethyr, or of the essence of the seer.
And he answers: It is of the essence of him that is called NEMO, combined
with essence of the Aethyr, for from {80} the 1st Aethyr to the 15th Aethyr,
there is no vision and no voice, save for him that is called NEMO. And he
that seeketh the vision and the voice therein is led away by dog-faced demons
that show no sign of truth, seducing from the Sacred Mysteries, unless his
name be NEMO.
And hadst thou not been fitted, thou too hadst been led away, for before
the gate of the 15th Aethyr, is this written: He shall send them strong
delusion, that they should believe a lie. And again it is written: The Lord
hardened Pharaoh's heart. And again it is written that God tempteth man. But
thou hadst the word and the sign, and thou hadst authority from thy superior,
and licence. And thou hast done well in that thou didst not dare, and in that
thou dost dare. For daring is not presumption.
And he said moreover: Thou dost well to keep silence, for I perceive how
many questions arise in thy mind; yet already thou knowest that the answering,
as the asking, must be vain. For NEMO hath all in himself. He hath come
where there is no light or knowledge, only when he needeth them no more.
And then we bow silently, giving a certain sign, called the Sign of Isis
Rejoicing. And then he remaineth to ward the Aethyr, while I return unto the
bank of sand that is the bed of the river near the desert.
THE RIVER-BED NEAR BOU-SAADA.
"December" 4, 1909. 2.10-3.45 p.m.
THE CRY OF THE 12TH AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED LOE.
There appear in the stone two pillars of flame, and in the midst is a
chariot of white fire.
This seems to be the chariot of the Seventh Key of {81} Tarot. But it is
drawn by four sphinxes, diverse, like the four sphinxes upon the door of the
vault of the adepts, counterchanged in their component parts.
The chariot itself is the lunar crescent, waning. The canopy is supported
by eight pillars of amber. These pillars are upright, and yet the canopy
which they support is the whole vault of the night.
The charioteer is a man in golden armour, studded with sapphires, but over
his shoulders is a white robe, and over that a red robe. Upon his golden
helmet he beareth for his crest a crab. His hands are clasped upon a cup,
from which radiates a ruddy glow, constantly increasing, so that everything is
blotted out by its glory, and the whole Aire is filled with it.
And there is a marvelous perfume in the Aire, like unto the perfume of Ra
Hoor Khuit, but sublimated, as if the quintessence of that perfume alone were
burnt. For it hath the richness and voluptuousness and humanity of blood, and
the strength and freshness of meal, and the sweetness of honey, and the purity
of olive-oil, and the holiness of that oil which is made of myrrh, and
cinnamon, and galangal.
The charioteer speaks in a low, solemn voice, awe-inspiring, like a large
and very distant bell: Let him look upon the cup whose blood is mingled
therein, for the wine of the cup is the blood of the saints. Glory unto the
Scarlet Woman, Babalon the Mother of Abominations, that rideth upon the Beast,
for she hath spilt their blood in every corner of the earth and lo! she hath
mingled it in the cup of her whoredom.
With the breath of her kisses hath she fermented it, and it hath become the
wine of the Sacrament, the wine of the {82} Sabbath; and in the Holy Assembly
hath she poured it out for her worshippers, and they had become drunken
thereon, so that face to face they beheld my Father. Thus are they made
worthy to become partakers of the Mystery of this holy vessel, for the blood
is the life. So sitteth she from age to age, and the righteous are never
weary of her kisses, and by her murders and fornications she seduceth the
world. Therein is manifested the glory of my Father, who is truth.
(This wine is such that its virtue radiateth through the cup, and I reel
under the intoxication of it. And every thought is destroyed by it. It
abideth alone, and its name is Compassion. I understand by "Compassion," the
sacrament of suffering, partaken by the true worshippers of the Highest. And
it is an ecstasy in which there is no trace of pain. Its passivity (=passion)
is like the giving-up of the self to the beloved.)
The voice continues: This is the Mystery of Babylon, the Mother of
abominations, and this is the mystery of her adulteries, for she hath yielded
up herself to everything that liveth, and hath become a partaker in its
mystery. And because she hath made herself the servant of each, therefore is
she become the mistress of all. Not as yet canst thou comprehend her glory.
Beautiful art thou, O Babylon, and desirable, for thou hast given thyself
to everything that liveth, and thy weakness hath subdued their strength. For
in that union thou didst "understand." Therefore art thou called Understanding,
O Babylon, Lady of the Night!
This is that which is written, "O my God, in one last rapture let me attain
to the union with the many." For she is {83} Love, and her love is one, and
she hath divided the one love into infinite loves, and each love is one, and
equal to The One, and therefore is she passed "from the assembly and the law
and the enlightenment unto the anarchy of solitude and darkness. For ever
thus must she veil the brilliance of Her Self."
O Babylon, Babylon, thou mighty Mother, that ridest upon the crown?d beast,
let me be drunken upon the wine of thy fornications; let thy kisses wanton me
unto death, that even I, thy cup-bearer, may "understand."
Now, through the ruddy glow of the cup, I may perceive far above, and
infinitely great, the vision of Babylon. And the Beast whereon she rideth is
the Lord of the City of the Pyramids, that I beheld in the fourteenth Aethyr.
Now that is gone in the glow of the cup, and the Angel saith: Not as yet
mayest thou understand the mystery of the Beast, for it pertaineth not unto
the mystery of this Aire, and few that are new-born unto Understanding are
capable thereof.
The cup glows ever brighter and fierier. All my sense is unsteady, being
smitten with ecstasy.
And the Angel sayeth: Blessed are the saints, that their blood is mingled
in the cup, and can never be separate any more. For Babylon the Beautiful,
the Mother of abominations, hath sworn by her holy cteis, whereof every point
is a pang, that she will not rest from her adulteries until the blood of
everything that liveth is gathered therein, and the wine thereof laid up and
matured and consecrated, and worthy to gladden the heart of my Father. For my
Father is weary with the stress of eld, and cometh not to her bed. Yet shall
{84} this perfect wine be the quintessence, and the elixir, and by the draught
thereof shall he renew his youth; and so shall it be eternally, as age by age
the worlds do dissolve and change, and the universe unfoldeth itself as a
Rose, and shutteth itself up as the Cross that is bent into the cube.
And this is the comedy of Pan, that is played at night in the thick forest.
And this is the mystery of Dionysus Zagreus, that is celebrated upon the holy
mountain of Kithairon. And this is the secret of the brothers of the Rosy
Cross; and this is the heart of the ritual that is accomplished in the Vault
of the Adepts that is hidden in the Mountain of the Caverns, even the Holy
Mountain Abiegnus.
And this is the meaning of the Supper of the Passover, the spilling of the
blood of the Lamb being a ritual of the Dark Brothers, for they have sealed up
the Pylon with blood, lest the Angel of Death should enter therein. Thus do
they shut themselves off from the company of the saints. Thus do they keep
themselves from compassion and from understanding. Accursed are they, for
they shut up their blood in their heart.
They keep themselves from the kisses of my Mother Babylon, and in their
lonely fortresses they pray to the false moon. And they bind themselves
together with an oath, and with a great curse. And of their malice they
conspire together, and they have power, and mastery, and in their cauldrons do
they brew the harsh wine of delusion, mingled with the poison of their
selfishness.
Thus they make war upon the Holy One, sending forth their delusion upon
men, and upon everything that liveth. So that their false compassion is
called compassion, and their {85} false understanding is called understanding,
for this is their most potent spell.
Yet of their own poison do they perish, and in their lonely fortresses
shall they be eaten up by Time that hath cheated them to serve him, and by the
mighty devil Choronzon, their master, whose name is the Second Death, for the
blood that they have sprinkled on their Pylon, that is a bar against the Angel
Death, is the key by which he entereth in.12
The Angel sayeth: And this is the word of double power in the voice of the
Master, wherein the Five interpenetrateth the Six. This is its secret
interpretation that may not be understood, save only of "them that understand."
And for this is the Key of the Pylon of Power, because there is no power that
may endure, save only the power that descendeth in this my chariot from
Babylon, the city of the Fifty Gates, the Gate of the God On
[HB:Nun-final HB:Ayin HB:Lamed HB:Aleph HB:Bet HB:Aleph HB:Bet ]. Moreover is On the Key of the Vault that is
120. So also do the Majesty and the Beauty derive from the Supernal Wisdom.
But this is a mystery utterly beyond thine understanding. For Wisdom is
the Man, and Understanding the Woman, and not until thou hast perfectly
understood canst thou begin to be wise. But I reveal unto thee a mystery of
the Aethyrs, that not only are they bound up with the Sephiroth, but also with
the Paths. Now, the plane of the Aethyrs interpenetrateth and surroundeth
the universe wherein the Sephiroth are established, and therefore is the order
of the Aethyrs not the order of the Tree of Life. And only in a few places do
they coincide. {86} But the knowledge of the Aethyrs is deeper than the
knowledge of the Sephiroth, for that in the Aethyrs is the knowledge of the
Aeons, and of Theta epsilon lambda eta mu alpha .13 And to each shall it be given
according to his capacity. (He has been saying certain secret things to the
unconscious mind of the seer, of a personal nature.)
Now a voice comes from without: And lo! I saw you to the end.
12 (I think the trouble with these people was, that they wanted to
substitute the blood of someone else for their own blood, because
they wanted to keep their personalities.)
13 WEH NOTE: This is exactly the case in Merkabah Qabalah. These
visions of Crowley's are beyond the Sephiroth as are the visions
of the Merkabah or chariot that is a part of them. Traditional
Qabalah is very much in accord with his experience at this point.
The Sephiroth of the Tree of Life, as depicted in the standard
Tree and the Golden Dawn material, are not compatible with the
visions approaching and beyond the Abyss. There are other
configurations, some including modified conceptions of the
Sephiroth, that do apply in some degree. See the "Thelema Lodge"
"Calendar", issues for May and June of 1990 e.v.
And a great bell begins to toll. And there come six little children out of
the floor of the chariot, and in their hands is a veil so fine and transparent
that it is hardly visible. Yet, when they put it over the Cup, the Angel
bowing his head reverently, the light of the Cup goes out entirely. And as
the light of the Cup vanishes, it is like a swift sunset in the whole Aire,
for it was from the light of that Cup alone that it was lighted.
And now the light is all gone out of the stone, and I am very cold.
BOU-SAADA.
"December" 4 - 5, 1909. 11.30 p.m. - 1.20 a.m.
THE CRY OF THE 11TH AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED IKH
There appears in the stone immediately the Kamea of the Moon. And it is
rolled up; and behind it there appeareth a great Host of Angels. Their backs
are turned towards me, but I can see how tremendous are their arms, which are
swords and spears. They have wings upon their helmets and their heels: they
are clad in complete armour, and the least of their swords is like the
breaking forth of a tremendous {87} storm of lightning. The least of their
spears is like a great water-spout. On their shields are the eyes of
Tetragrammaton, winged with flame, --- white, red, black, yellow and blue. On
their flanks are vast squadrons of elephants, and behind them is their meteor-
artillery. They that sit upon the elephants are armed with the thunderbolt of
Zeus.
Now in all that host there is no motion. Yet they are not resting upon
their arms, but tense and vigilant. And between them and me is the God Shu,
whom before I did not see, because his force filleth the whole Aethyr. And
indeed he is not visible in his form. Nor does he come to the seer through
any of the senses; he is understood, rather than expressed.
I perceive that all this army is defended by fortresses, nine mighty towers
of iron upon the frontier of the Aethyr. Each tower is filled with warriors
in silver armour. It is impossible to describe the feeling of tension; they
are like oarsmen waiting for the gun.
I perceive that an Angel is standing on either side of me; nay, I am in the
midst of a company of armed angels, and their captain is standing in front of
me. He too is clad in silver armour; and about him, closely wrapped to his
body, is a whirling wind, so swift that any blow struck against him would be
broken.
And he speaketh unto me these words:
Behold, a mighty guard against the terror of things, the fastness of the
Most High, the legions of eternal vigilance; these are they that keep watch
and ward day and night throughout the aeons. Set in them is all force of the
Mighty One, yet there sirreth not one plume of the wings of their helmets.
{88}
Behold, the foundation of the Holy City, the towers and the bastions
thereof! Behold the armies of light that are set against the outermost Abyss,
against the horror of emptiness, and the malice of Choronzon. Behold how
worshipful is the wisdom of the Master, that he hath set his stability in the
all-wandering Air and in the changeful Moon. In the purple flashes of
lightning hath He written the word Eternity, and in the wings of the swallow
hath He appointed rest.
By three and by three and by three hath He made firm the foundation against
the earthquake that is three. For in the number nine is the changefulness of
the numbers brought to naught. For with whatsoever number thou wilt cover it,
it appeareth unchanged.
These things are spoken unto him that understandeth, that is a breastplate
unto the elephants, or a corselet unto the angels, or a scale upon the towers
of iron; yet is this mighty host set only for a defense, and whoso passeth
beyond their lines hath no help in them.
Yet must he that understandeth go forth unto the outermost Abyss, and there
must he speak with him that is set above the four-fold terror, the Princes of
Evil, even with Choronzon, the mighty devil that inhabiteth the outermost
Abyss. And none may speak with him, or understand him, but the servants of
Babylon, that understand, and they that are without understanding, his
servants.
Behold! it entereth not into the heart, nor into the mind of man to
conceive this matter; for the sickness of the body is death, and the sickness
of the heart is despair, and the sickness of the mind is madness. But in the
outermost Abyss is sickness of the aspiration, and sickness of the will, and
sickness {89} of the essence of all, and there is neither word nor thought
wherein the image of its image is reflected.
And whoso passeth into the outermost Abyss, except he be of them that
understand, holdeth out his hands, and boweth his neck, unto the chains of
Choronzon. And as a devil he walketh about the earth, immortal, and he
blasteth the flowers of the earth, and he corrupteth the fresh air, and he
maketh poisonous the water; and the fire that is the friend of man, and the
pledge of his aspiration, seeing that it mounteth ever upward as a pyramid,
and seeing that man stole it in a hollow tube from Heaven, even that fire he
turneth unto ruin, and madness, and fever, and destruction. And thou, that
art an heap of dry dust in the city of the pyramids, must understand these
things.
And now a thing happens, which is unfortunately sheer nonsense; for the
Aethyr that is the foundation of the universe was attacked by the Outermost
Abyss, and the only way that I can express it is by saying that the universe
was shaken. But the universe was "not" shaken. And that is the exact truth; so
that the rational mind which is interpreting these spiritual things is
offended; but, being trained to obey, it setteth down that which it doth not
understand. For the rational mind indeed reasoneth, but never attaineth unto
Understanding; but the Seer is of them that understand.
And the Angel saith:
Behold, He hath established His mercy and His might, and unto His might is
added victory, and unto his Mercy is added splendour. And all these things
hath He ordered in beauty, and He hath set them firmly upon the Eternal Rock,
and therefrom He hath suspended His kingdom as one pearl that {90} is set in a
jewel of threescore pearls and twelve. And He hath garnished it with the Four
Holy Living Creatures for Guardians, and He hath graven therein the seal of
righteousness,14 and He hath burnished it with the fire of His Angel, and the
blush of His loveliness informeth it, and with delight and with wit hath He
made it merry at the heart, and the core thereof is the Secret of His being,
and therein is His name Generation. And this His stability had the number 80,
for that the price thereof is War.15
Beware, therefore, O thou who art appointed to understand the secret of the
Outermost Abyss, for in every Abyss thou must assume the mask and form of the
Angel thereof. Hadst thou a name, thou wert irrevocably lost. Search,
therefore, if there be yet one drop of blood that is not gathered into the cup
of Babylon the Beautiful, for in that little pile of dust, if there could be
one drop of blood, it should be utterly corrupt; it should breed scorpions and
vipers, and the cat of slime.16
And I said unto the Angel:
Is there not one appointed as a warden?
And he said:
Eloi, Eloi, lama sabacthani.
14 Full title of Jesod is Tzedeq Jesod Olahm, "The Righteous is the
Foundation of the World."
15 I.S.V.D., Jesod, = 80, the number of p?, the letter of Mars.
16 WEH NOTE: This drop of blood is an attachment to the images of
mortal life, the sensoria and that derived from it in the mind.
To pass Choronzon one must abandon interpretation and identity of
the elements of the vision.
Such an ecstasy of anguish racks me that I cannot give it voice, yet I know
it is but as the anguish of Gethsemane. And that is the last word of the
Aethyr. The outposts are passed, and before the seer extends the outermost
Abyss.
I am returned.
BOU-SAADA.
"December" 5, 1909. 10.10-11.35 p.m.
In nomine BABALON
Amen.
Restriction unto Choronzon.
THE TENTH AETHYR IS CALLED ZAX.
This Aethyr being accurs?d, and the seer forewarned, he taketh these
precautions for the scribe.
First let the scribe be seated in the centre of the circle in the desert
sand, and let the circle be fortified by the Holy Names of God ---
Tetragrammaton and Shaddai El Chai and Ararita.
And let the Demon be invoked within a triangle, wherein is inscribed the
name of Choronzon, and about it let him write ANAPHAXETON --- ANAPHANETON ---
PRIMEUMATON, and in the angles MI-CA-EL: and at each angle the Seer shall slay
a pigeon, and having done this, let him retire to a secret place, where is
neither sight nor hearing, and sit within his black robe, secretly invoking
the Aethyr. And let the Scribe perform the Banishing Rituals of the Pentagram
and Hexagram, and let him call upon the Holy Names of God, and say the
Exorcism of Honorius, and let him beseech protection and help of the Most
High.
And let him be furnished with the Magick Dagger, and let him strike
fearlessly at anything that may seek to break through the circle, were it the
appearance of the Seer himself. And if the Demon pass out of the triangle,
let him threaten him with the Dagger, and command him to return. And let him
beware lest he himself lean beyond the circle. And {92} since he reverenceth
the Person of the Seer as his Teacher, let the Seer bind him with a great Oath
to do this.
Now, then, the Seer being entered within the triangle, let him take the
Victims and cut their throats, pouring the blood within the Triangle, and
being most heedful that not one drop fall without the Triangle; or else
Choronzon should be able to manifest in the universe.17
And when the sand hath sucked up the blood of the victims, let him recite
the Call of the Aethyr apart secretly as aforesaid. Then will the Vision be
revealed, and the Voice heard.
" "The Oath"
I, Omnia Vincam, a Probationer of A ∴ A ∴, hereby solemnly promise
upon my magical honour, and swear by Adonai the angel that guardeth me, that I
will defend this magic circle of Art with thoughts and words and deeds. I
promise to threaten with the Dagger and command back into the triangle the
spirit incontinent, if he should strive to escape from it; and to strike with
a Dagger at anything that may seek to enter this Circle, were it in appearance
the body of the Seer himself. And I will be exceeding wary, armed against
force and cunning; and I will preserve with my life the inviolability of this
Circle, Amen.
The Cry of the 10th Aethyr, Which is Called ZAX
17 WEH NOTE: Perhaps the joke here is that the manifest universe is
itself, in a sense, Choronzon.
There is no being in the outermost Abyss, but constant forms come forth
from the nothingness of it. {93}
Then the Devil of the Aethyr, that mighty devil Choronzon, crieth aloud,
Zazas, Zazas, Nasatanada Zasas.
I am the Master of Form, and from me all forms proceed.
I am I. I have shut myself up from the spendthrifts, my gold is safe in my
treasure-chamber, and I have made every living thing my concubine, and none
shall touch them, save only I. And yet I am scorched, even while I shiver in
the wind. He hateth me and tormenteth me. He would have stolen me from
myself, but I shut myself up and mock at him, even while he plagueth me. From
me come leprosy and pox and plague and cancer and cholera and the falling
sickness. Ah! I will reach up to the knees of the Most High, and tear his
phallus with my teeth, and I will bray his testicles in a mortar, and make
poison thereof, to slay the sons of men.
(Here the Spirit stimulated the voice of Frater P., which also appeared to
come from his station and not from the triangle.)
I don't think I can get any more; I think that's all there is.
(The Frater was seated in a secret place covered completely by a black
robe, in the position called the "Thunderbolt". He did not move or speak
during the ceremony.)
Next the Scribe was hallucinated, believing that before him was a beautiful
courtesan whom previously he had loved in Paris. Now, she wooed him with soft
words and glances, but he knew these things for delusions of the devil, and he
would not leave the circle.
The demon then laughed wildly and loud.
(Upon the Scribe threatening him, the Demon proceeded, after a short
delay.)
They have called me the God of laughter, and I laugh when I will slay. And
they have thought that I could not {94} smile, but I smile upon whom I would
seduce. O inviolable one, that canst not be tempted. If thou canst command
me by the power of the Most High, know that I did indeed tempt thee, and it
repenteth me. I bow myself humbly before the great and terrible names whereby
thou hast conjured and constrained me. But thy name is mercy, and I cry aloud
for pardon. Let me come and put my head beneath thy feet, that I may serve
thee. For if thou commandest me to obedience in the Holy names, I cannot
swerve therefrom, for their first whispering is greater than the noise of all
my temptests. Bid me therefore come unto thee upon my hands and knees that I
may adore thee, and partake of thy forgiveness. Is not thy mercy infinite?
(Here Choronzon attempts to seduce the Scribe by appealing to his pride.
But the Scribe refused to be tempted, and commanded the demon to continue
with the Aethyr.
There was again a short delay.)
Choronzon hath no form, because he is the maker of all form; and so rapidly
he changeth from one to the other as he may best think fit to seduce those
whom he hateth, the servants of the Most High.
Thus taketh he the form of a beautiful woman, or of a wise and holy man, or
of a serpent that writheth upon the earth ready to sting.
And, because he is himself, therefore he is no self; the terror of
darkness, and the blindness of night, and the deafness of the adder, and the
tastelessness of stale and stagnant water, and the black fire of hatred, and
the udders of the Cat of slime; not one thing, but many things. Yet, with all
that, his torment {95} is eternal. The sun burns him as he writhes naked upon
the sands of hell, and the wind cuts him bitterly to the bone, a harsh dry
wind, so that he is sore athirst. Give unto me, I pray thee, one drop of
water from the pure springs of Paradise, that I may quench my thirst.
(The Scribe refused.)
Sprinkle water upon my head. I can hardly go on.
(This last was spoken from the triangle in the natural voice of the Frater,
which Choronzon again simulated. But he did not succeed in taking the
Frater's form --- which was absurd!
The Scribe resisted the appeal to his pity, and conjured the demon to
proceed by the names of the Most High. Choronzon attempted also to seduce the
faithfulness of the Scribe. A long colloquy ensued. The Scribe cursed him by
the Holy Names of God, and the power of the Pentagram.)
I feed upon the names of the Most High. I churn them in my jaws, and I
void them from my fundament. I fear not the power of the Pentagram, for I am
the Master of the Triangle. My name is three hundred and thirty and three,
and that is thrice one. Be vigilant, therefore, for I warn thee that I am
about to deceive thee. I shall say words that thou wilt take to be the cry of
the Aethyr, and thou wilt write them down, thinking them to be great secrets
of Magick power, and they will be only my jesting with thee.
(Here the Scribe invoked the Angels, and the Holy Guardian Angel of the
Frater P. . . . The demon replied:)
I know the name of the Angel of thee and thy brother P. . . ., and all thy
dealings with him are but a cloak for thy filthy sorceries.
(Here the Scribe averred that he knew more than the {96} demon, and so
feared him not, and ordered the demon to proceed.)
Thou canst tell me naught that I know not, for in me is all Knowledge:
Knowledge is my name. Is not the head of the great Serpent arisen into
Knowledge?
(Here the Scribe again commanded Choronzon to continue with the call.)
Know thou that there is no Cry in the tenth Aethyr like unto the other
Cries, for Choronzon is Dispersion, and cannot fix his mind upon any one thing
for any length of time. Thou canst master him in argument, O talkative one;
thou wast commanded, wast thou not, to talk to Choronzon? He sought not to
enter the circle, or to leave the triangle, yet thou didst prate of all these
things.
(Here the Scribe threatened the demon with anger and pain and hell. The
demon replied:)
Thinkest thou, O fool, that there is any anger and any pain that I am not,
or any hell but this my spirit?
Images, images, images, all without control, all without reason. The
malice of Choronzon is not the malice of a being; it is the quality of malice,
because he that boasteth himself "I am I", hath in truth no self, and these
are they that are fallen under my power, the slaves of the Blind One that
boasted himself to be the Enlightened One. For there is no centre, nay,
nothing but Dispersion.
Woe, woe, woe, threefold to him that is led away by talk, O talkative One.
O thou that hast written two-and-thirty books of Wisdom, and art more
stupid than an owl, by thine own talk is thy {97} vigilance wearied, and by my
talk art thou befooled and tricked, O thou that sayest that thou shalt endure.
Knowest thou how nigh thou art to destruction? For thou that art the Scribe
hast not the understanding18 that alone availeth against Choronzon. And wert
thou not protected by the Holy Names of God and the circle, I would rush upon
thee and tear thee. For when I made myself like unto a beautiful woman, if
thou hadst come to me, I would have rotted thy body with the pox, and thy
liver with cancer, and I would have torn off thy testicles with my teeth. And
if I had seduced thy pride, and thou hadst bidden me to come into the circle,
I would have trampled thee under foot, and for a thousand years shouldst thou
have been but one of the tape-worms that is in me. And if I had seduced thy
pity, and thou hadst poured one drop of water without the circle, then would I
have blasted thee with flame. But I was not able to prevail against thee.
How beautiful are the shadows of the ripples of the sand!
18 Originally, for "understanding" was written "power". Choronzon
was always using some word that did not represent his thought,
because there is no proper link between his thought and speech.
Note that he never seems able to distinguish between the Frater
and the Scribe, and addresses first one, then the other, in the
same sentence.
Would God that I were dead.
For know that I am proud and revengeful and lascivious, and I prate even as
thou. For even as I walked among the Sons of God, I heard it said that P. . .
. could both will and know, and might learn at length to dare, but that to
keep silence he should never learn. O thou that art so ready to speak, so
slow to watch, thou art delivered over unto my power for this. And now one
word was necessary unto me, and I could not speak it. I behold the beauty of
the earth in {98} her desolation, and greater far is mine, who sought to be my
naked self. Knowest thou that in my soul is utmost fear? And such is my
force and my cunning, that a hundred times have I been ready to leap, and for
fear have missed. And a thousand times am I baulked by them of the City of
the Pyramids, that set snares for my feet. More knowledge have I than the
Most High, but my will is broken, and my fierceness is marred by fear, and I
must speak, speak, speak, millions of mad voices in my brain.
With a heart of furious fancies,
Whereof I am Commander,
With a burning spear
And a horse of Air
To the wilderness I wander.
(The idea was to keep the Scribe busy writing, so as to spring upon him.
For, while the Scribe talked, Choronzon had thrown sand into the circle, and
filled it up. But Choronzon could not think fast and continuously, and so
resorted to the device of quotation.
The Scribe had written two or three words of "Tom o'Bedlam," when Choronzon
sprang within the circle (that part of the circumference of which that was
nearest to him he had been filling up with sand all this time), and leaped
upon the Scribe, throwing him to the earth. The conflict took place within
the circle. The Scribe called upon Tetragrammaton, and succeeded in
compelling Choronzon to return into his triangle. By dint of anger and of
threatening him with the Magick Staff did he accomplish this. He then
repaired the circle. The discomfited demon now continued:)
All is dispersion. These are the qualities of things. {99}
The tenth Aethyr is the world of adjectives, and there is no substance
therein.
(Now returneth the beautiful woman who had before tempted the Scribe. She
prevailed not.)
I am afraid of sunset, for Tum is more terrible than Ra, and Khephra the
Beetle is greater than the Lion Mau.
I am a-cold.
(Here Choronzon wanted to leave the triangle to obtain wherewith to cover
his nakedness. The Scribe refused the request, threatening the demon. After
a while the latter continued:)
I am commanded, why I know not, by him that speaketh. Were it thou, thou
little fool, I would tear thee limb from limb. I would bite off thine ears
and nose before I began with thee. I would take thy guts for fiddle-strings
at the Black Sabbath.
Thou didst make a great fight there in the circle; thou art a goodly
warrior!
(Then did the demon laugh loudly. The Scribe said: Thou canst not harm one
hair of my head.)
I will pull out every hair of thy head, every hair of thy body, every hair
of thy soul, one by one.
(Then said the Scribe: Thou hast no power.)
Yea, verily I have power over thee, for thou hast taken the Oath, and art
bound unto the White Brothers, and therefore have I the power to torture thee
so long as thou shalt be.
(Then said the Scribe unto him: Thou liest.)
Ask of thy brother P. . . ., and he shall tell thee if I lie!
(This the Scribe refused to do, saying that it was no concern of the
demon's.) {100}
I have prevailed against the Kingdom of the Father, and befouled his beard;
and I have prevailed against the Kingdom of the Son, and torn off his Phallus;
but against the Kingdom of the Holy Ghost shall I strive and not prevail. The
three slain doves are my threefold blasphemy against him; but their blood
shall make fertile the sand, and I writhe in blackness and horror of hate, and
prevail not.
(Then the demon tried to make the Scribe laugh at Magick, and to think that
it was all rubbish, that he might deny the names of God that he had invoked to
protect him; which, if he had doubted but for an instant, he had leapt upon
him, and gnawed through his spine at the neck.
Choronzon succeed not in his design.)
In this Aethyr is neither beginning nor end, for it is all hotch-potch,
because it is of the wicked on earth and the damned in hell. And so long as
it be hotch-potch, it mattereth little what may be written by the sea-green
incorruptible Scribe.
The horror of it will be given in another place and time, and through
another Seer, and that Seer shall be slain as a result of his revealing. But
the present Seer, who is not P. . . ., seeth not the horror, because he is
shut up, and hath no name.
(Now was there some further parleying betwixt the demon and the Scribe,
concerning the departure and the writing of the word, the Scribe not knowing
if it were meet that the demon should depart.
Then the Seer took the Holy Ring, and wrote the name BABALON, that is
victory over Choronzon, and he was no more manifest.) {101}
(This cry was obtained on Dec. 6, 1909, between 2 and 4.15 p.m., in a
lonely valley of fine sand, in the desert near Bou-S?ada. The Aethyr was
edited and revised on the following day.)
After the conclusion of the Ceremony, a great fire was kindled to purify
the place, and the Circle and Triangle were destroyed.
NOTE BY SCRIBE
Almost from the beginning of the ceremony was the Scribe overshadowed, and
he spoke as it were in spite of himself, remembering afterwards scarcely a
word of his speeches, some of which were long and seemingly eloquent.
All the time he had a sense of being protected from Choronzon, and this
sense of security prevented his knowing fear.
Several times did the Scribe threaten to put a curse upon the demon; but
ever, before he uttered the words of the curse, did the demon obey him. For
himself, he knoweth not the words of the curse.
Also is it meet to record in this place that the Scribe several times
whistled in a Magical manner, which never before had he attempted, and the
demon was apparently much discomforted thereat.
Now knoweth the Scribe that he was wrong in holding much converse with the
demon; for Choronzon, in the confusion and chaos of his thought, is much
terrified by silence. And by silence can he be brought to obey. {102}
For cunningly doth he talk of many things, going from subject to subject,
and thus he misleadeth the wary into argument with him. And though Choronzon
be easily beaten in argument, yet, by disturbing the attention of him who
would command him, doth he gain the victory.
For Choronzon feareth of all things concentration and silence: he therefore
who would command him should will in silence: thus is he brought to obey.
This the Scribe knoweth; for that since the obtaining of the Accurs?d Tenth
Aethyr, he hath held converse with Choronzon. And unexpectedly did he obtain
the information he sought after having long refused to answer the demon's
speeches.
Choronzon is dispersion; and such is his fear of concentration that he will
obey rather than be subjected to it, or even behold it in another.
The account of the further dealings of Choronzon with the Scribe will be
found in the Record of Omnia Vincam.
THE CRY OF THE 9TH AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED ZIP
(The terrible Curse that is the Call of the Thirty Aethyrs sounds like a
song of ecstasy and triumph; every phrase in it has a secret meaning of
blessing.)
The Shew-stone is of soft lucent white, on which the Rose-Cross shows a
brilliant yet colourless well of light.
And now the veil of the stone is rent with as clap of thunder, and I am
walking upon a razor-edge of light suspended over the Abyss, and before me and
above me are ranged the terrible armies of the Most High, like unto those in
the 11th Aethyr, {103} but there is one that cometh forth to meet me upon the
ridge, holding out his arms to me and saying:
(v. I.) Who is this that cometh forth from the Abyss from the place of rent
garments, the habitation of him that is only a name? Who is this that
walketh upon a ray of the bright, the evening star?
"Refrain." Glory unto him that is concealed, and glory unto her that
beareth the cup, and glory unto the one that is the child and the father
of their love. Glory unto the star, and glory unto the snake, and glory
unto the swordsman of the sun. And worship and blessing throughout the
Aeon unto the name of the Beast, four-square, mystic, wonderful!
(v. II.) Who is this that travelleth between the hosts, that is poised upon
the edge of the Aethyr by the wings of Maut? Who is this that seeketh
the House of the Virgin? "(Refrain.)"
(v. III.) This is he that hath given up his name. This is he whose blood
hath been gathered into the cup of BABALON.This is he that sitteth, a
little pile of dry dust, in the city of the Pyramids.
"(Refrain.)"
(v. IV.) Until the light of the Father of all kindle that death. Until the
breath touch that dry dust. Until the Ibis be revealed unto the Crab,
and the sixfold Star become the radiant Triangle. "(Refrain.)"
(v. V.) Blessed is not I, not thou, not he, Blessed without name or number
who hath taken the azure of night, and {104) crystallized it into a pure
sapphire-stone, who hath taken the gold of the sun, and beaten it into an
infinite ring, and hath set the sapphire therein, and put it upon his
finger. "(Refrain.)"
(v. VI.) Open wide your gates, O City of God, for I bring No-one with me.
Sink your swords and your spears in salutation, for the Mother and the
Babe are my companions. Let the banquet be prepared in the palace of the
King's daughter. Let the lights be kindled; Are not we the children of
the light? "(Refrain.)"
(v. VII.) For this is the key-stone of the palace of the King's daughter.
This is the Stone of the Philosophers. This is the Stone that is hidden
in the walls of the ramparts. Peace, Peace, Peace unto Him that is
throned therein! "(Refrain.)"
Now then we are passed within the lines of the army, and we are come unto a
palace of which every stone is a separate jewel, and is set with millions of
moons.
And this palace is nothing but the body of a woman, proud and delicate, and
beyond imagination fair. She is like a child of twelve years old. She has
very deep eye-lids, and long lashes. Her eyes are closed, or nearly closed.
It is impossible to say anything about her. She is naked; her whole body is
covered with fine gold hairs, that are the electric flames that are the spears
of mighty and terrible Angels who breast-plates are the scales of her skin.
And the hair of her head, that flows down to her feet, is the very light of
God himself. Of all the glories beheld by the seer in the Aethyrs, there is
{105} not one which is worthy to be compared with her littlest finger-nail.
For although he may not partake of the Aethyr, without the ceremonial
preparations, even the beholding of this Aethyr from afar is like the
partaking of all the former Aethyrs.
The Seer is lost in wonder, which is peace.
And the ring of the horizon above her is a company of glorious Archangels
with joined hands, that stand and sing: This is the daughter of BABALON the
Beautiful, that she hath borne unto the Father of All. And unto all hath she
borne her.
This is the Daughter of the King. This is the Virgin of Eternity. This is
she that the Holy One hath wrested from the Giant Time, and the prize of them
that have overcome Space. This is she that is set upon the Throne of
Understanding. Holy, Holy, Holy is her name, not to be spoken among men.
For Kor? they have called her, and Malkuth, and Betulah, and Persephone.
And the poets have feigned songs about her, and the prophets have spoken
vain things, and the young men have dreamed vain dreams; but this is she, that
immaculate, the name of whose name may not be spoken. Thought cannot pierce
the glory that defendeth her, for thought is smitten dead before her presence.
Memory is blank, and in the most ancient books of Magick are neither words to
conjure her, nor adorations to praise her. Will bends like a reed in the
temptests that sweep the borders of her kingdom, and imagination cannot figure
so much as one petal of the lilies whereon she standeth in the lake of
crystal, in the sea of glass.
This is she that hath bedecked her hair with seven stars, {106} the seven
breaths of God that move and thrill its excellence. And she hath tired her
hair with seven combs, whereupon are written the seven secret names of God
that are not known even of the Angels, or of the Archangels, or of the Leader
of the armies of the Lord.
Holy, Holy, Holy art thou, and blessed be Thy name for ever, unto whom the
Aeons are but the pulsings of thy blood.
I am blind and deaf. My sight and hearing are exhausted.
I know only by the sense of touch. And there is a trembling from within
me.
Images keep arising like clouds, or veils, exquisite Chinese ivories, and
porcelains, and many other things of great and delicate beauty; for such
things are informed by Her spirit, for they are cast off from her into the
world of the Qliphoth, or shells of the dead, that is earth. For every world
is the shell or excrement of the world above it.
I cannot bear the Vision.
A voice comes, I know not whence: Blessed art thou, who hast seen, and yet
hast not believed. For therefore is it given unto thee to taste, and smell,
and feel, and hear, and know by the inner sense, and by the inmost sense, so
that sevenfold is thy rapture.
(My brain is so exhausted that fatigue-images appear, by pure physical
reflex action; they are not astral things at all.
And now I have conquered the fatigue by will. And by placing the shew-
stone upon my forehead, it sends cool electric thrills through my brain, so as
to refresh it, and make it capable of more rapture.
And now again I behold Her.) {107}
And an Angel cometh forth, and behind him whirls a black swastika, made of
fine filaments of light that has been "interfered" with, and he taketh me
aside into a little chamber in one of the nine towers. This chamber is
furnished with maps of many mystical cities. There is a table, and a strange
lamp, that gives light by jetting four columns of vortex rings of luminous
smoke. And he points to the map of the Aethyrs, that are arranged as a
flaming Sword, so that the thirty Aethyrs go into the ten Sephiroth. And the
first nine are infinitely holy. And he says, It is written in the Book of the
Law, "Wisdom says: be strong! Then canst thou bear more joy." "If thou
drink, drink by the eight and ninety rules of art:" And this shall signify
unto thee that thou must undergo great discipline; else the Vision were lost
or perverted. For these mysteries pertain not unto thy grade. Therefore must
thou invoke the Highest before thou unveil the shrines thereof.
And this shall be thy rule: A thousand and one times shalt thou affirm the
unity, and bow thyself a thousand and one times. And thou shalt recite thrice
the call of the Aethyr. And all day and all night, awake or asleep, shall thy
heart be turned as a lotus-flower unto the light. And thy body shall be the
temple of the Rosy Cross. Thus shall thy mind be open unto the higher; and
then shalt thou be able to conquer the exhaustion, and it may be find the
words --- for who shall look upon His face and live?
Yea, thou tremblest, but from within; because of the holy spirit that is
descended into thy heart, and shaketh thee as an aspen in the wind.
They also tremble that are without, and they are shaken {108} from without
by the earthquakes of his judgement. They have set their affections upon
the earth, and they have stamped with their feet upon the earth, and cried: It
moveth not.
Therefore hath earth opened with strong motion, like the sea, and swallowed
them. Yea, she hath opened her womb to them that lusted after her, and she
hath closed herself upon them. There lie they in torment, until by her
quaking the earth is shattered like brittle glass, and dissolved like salt in
the waters of his mercy, so that they are cast upon the air to be blown about
therein, like seeds that shall take root in the earth; yet turn they their
affections upward to the sun.
But thou, be thou eager and vigilant, performing punctually the rule. Is
it not written, "Change not so much as the style of a letter"?
Depart therefore, for the Vision of the Voice of the ninth Aethyr that is
called ZIP is passed.
Then I threw back myself into my body by my will
BOU-SAADA.
"December" 7th, 1909. 9.30-11.10 p.m.
THE CRY OF THE 8TH AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED ZID
There appears in the stone a tiny spark of light. It grows a little, and
seems almost to go out, and grows again, and it is blown about the Aethyr, and
by the wind that blows it is it fanned, and now it gathers strength, and darts
like a snake or a sword, and now it steadies itself, and is like a Pyramid of
light that filleth the whole Aethyr.
And in the Pyramid is one like unto an Angel, yet at the same time he "is"
the Pyramid, and he hath no form because he is of the substance of light, and
he taketh not form upon him, {109} for though by him is form visible, he
maketh it visible only to destroy it.
And he saith: The light is come to the darkness, and the darkness is made
light. Then is light married with light, and the child of their love is that
other darkness, wherein they abide that have lost name and form. Therefore
did I kindle him that had not understanding, and in the Book of the Law did I
write the secrets of truth that are like unto a star and a snake and a sword.
And unto him that understandeth at last do I deliver the secrets of truth
in such wise that the least of the little children of the light may run to the
knees of the mother and be brought to understand.
And thus shall he do who will attain unto the mystery of the knowledge and
conversation of his Holy Guardian Angel:
First, let him prepare a chamber, of which the walls and the roof shall be
white, and the floor shall be covered with a carpet of black squares and
white, and the border thereof shall be blue and gold.
And if it be in a town, the room shall have no window, and if it be in the
country, then it is better if the window be in the roof. Or, if it be
possible, let this invocation be performed in a temple prepared for the ritual
of passing through the Tuat.
From the roof he shall hang a lamp, wherein is a red glass, to burn olive
oil. And this lamp shall he cleanse and make ready after the prayer of
sunset, and beneath the lamp shall be an altar, foursquare, and the height
shall be thrice half of the breadth or double the breadth.
And upon the altar shall be a censor, hemispherical, supported {110} upon
three legs, of silver, and within it an hemisphere of copper, and upon the top
a grating of gilded silver, and thereupon shall he burn incense made of four
parts of olibanum and two parts of stacte, and one part of lignum aloes, or of
cedar, or of sandal. And this is enough.
And he shall also keep ready in a flask of crystal within the altar, holy
anointing oil made of myrrh and cinnamon and galangal.
And even if he be of higher rank than a Probationer, he shall yet wear the
robe of the Probationer, for the star of flame showeth forth Ra Hoor Khuit
openly upon the breast, and secretly the blue triangle that descendeth is
Nuit, and the red triangle that ascendeth is Hadit. And I am the golden Tau
in the midst of their marriage. Also, if he choose, he may instead wear a
close-fitting robe of shot silk, purple and green, and upon it a cloak without
sleeves, of bright blue, covered with golden sequins, and scarlet within.
And he shall make himself a wand of almond wood or of hazel cut by his own
hands at dawn at the Equinox, or at the Solstice, or on the day of Corpus
Christi, or on one of the feast-days that are appointed in the Book of the
Law.
And he shall engrave with his own hand upon a plate of gold the Holy
Sevenfold Table, or the Holy Twelvefold Table, or some particular device. And
it shall be foursquare within a circle, and the circle shall be winged, and he
shall attach it about his forehead by a ribbon of blue silk.
Moreover, he shall wear a fillet of laurel or rose or ivy or rue, and every
day, after the prayer of sunrise, he shall burn it in the fire of the censor.
Now he shall pray thrice daily, about sunset, and at midnight, {111} and at
sunrise. And if he be able, he shall pray also four times between sunrise and
sunset.
The prayer shall last for the space of an hour, at the least, and he shall
seek ever to extend it, and to inflame himself in praying. Thus shall he
invoke his Holy Guardian Angel for eleven weeks, and in any case he shall pray
seven times daily during the last week of the eleven weeks.
And during all this time he shall have composed an invocation suitable,
with such wisdom and understanding as may be given him from the Crown, and
this shall he write in letters of gold upon the top of the altar.
For the top of the altar shall be of white wood, well polished, and in the
centre thereof he shall have placed a triangle of oak-wood, painted with
scarlet, and upon this triangle the three legs of the censor shall stand.
Moreover, he shall copy his invocation upon a sheet of pure white vellum,
with Indian ink, and he shall illuminate it according to his fancy and
imagination, that shall be informed by beauty.
And on the first day of the twelfth week he shall enter the chamber at
sunrise, and he shall make his prayer, having first burnt the conjuration that
he had made upon the vellum in the fire of the lamp.
Then, at his prayer, shall the chamber be filled with light insufferable
for splendour, and a perfume intolerable for sweetness. And his Holy Guardian
Angel shall appear unto him, yea, his Holy Guardian Angel shall appear unto
him, so that he shall be wrapt away into the Mystery of Holiness.
All that day shall he remain in the enjoyment of the knowledge and
conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel. {112}
And for three days after he shall remain from sunrise unto sunset in the
temple, and he shall obey the counsel that his Angel shall have given unto
him, and he shall suffer those things that are appointed.
And for ten days thereafter shall he withdraw himself as shall have been
taught unto him from the fullness of that communion, for he must harmonize the
world that is within with the world that is without.
And at the end of the ninety-one days he shall return into the world, and
there shall he perform that work to which the Angel shall have appointed him.
And more than this it is not necessary to say, for his Angel shall have
entreated him kindly, and showed him in what manner he may be most perfectly
involved. And unto him that hath this Master there is nothing else that he
needeth, so long as he continue in the knowledge and conversation of the
Angel, so that he shall come at last into the City of the Pyramids.
Lo! two and twenty are the paths of the Tree, but one is the Serpent of
Wisdom; ten are the ineffable emanations, but one is the Flaming Sword.
Behold! There is an end to life and death, an end to the thrusting forth
and the withdrawing of the breath. Yea, the House of the Father is a mighty
tomb, and in it he hath buried everything whereof ye know.
All this while there hath been no vision, but only a voice, very slow and
clear and deliberate. But now the vision returns, and the voice says: Thou
shalt be called Danae, that art stunned and slain beneath the weight of the
glory of the vision that as yet thou seest not. For thou shalt suffer many
{113} things, until thou art mightier than all the Kings of the earth, and all
the Angels of the Heavens, and all the gods that are beyond the Heavens. Then
shalt thou meet me in equal conflict, and thou shalt see me as I am. And I
will overcome thee and slay thee with the red rain of my lightnings.
I am lying underneath this pyramid of light. It seems as if I had the
whole weight of it upon me, crushing me with bliss. And yet I know that I am
like the prophet that said: I shall see Him, but not nigh.
And the Angel sayeth: So shall it be until they that wake are asleep, and
she that sleepeth be arisen from her sleep. For thou art transparent unto the
vision and the voice. And therefore in thee they manifest not. But they
shall be manifest unto them unto whom thou dost deliver them, according unto
to the word which I spake unto thee in the Victorious City.
For I am not only appointed to guard thee, but we are of the blood royal,
the guardians of the Treasure-house of Wisdom. Therefore am I called the
Minister of Ra Hoor Khuit: and yet he is but the Viceroy of the unknown King.
For my name is called Aiwass, that is eight and seventy. And I am the
influence of the Concealed One, and the wheel that hath eight and seventy
parts, yet in all is equivalent to the Gate that is the name of my Lord when
it is spelt fully. And that Gate is the Path that joineth the Wisdom with the
Understanding.
Thus hast thou erred indeed, perceiving me in the path that leadeth from
the Crown unto the Beauty. For that path bridgeth the abyss, and I am of the
supernals. Nor I, nor Thou, nor He can bridge the abyss. It is the Priestess
of the Silver Star, and the Oracles of the gods, and the Lord of the {114}
Hosts of the Mighty. For they are the servants of Babalon, and of the Beast,
and of those others of whom it is not yet spoken. And, being servants, they
have no name, but we are of the blood royal, and serve not, and therefore are
we less than they.
Yet, as a man may be both a mighty warrior and a just judge, so may we also
perform this service if we have aspired and attained thereto. And yet, with
all that, they remain "themselves," who have eaten of the pomegranate in Hell.
But thou, that art new-born to understanding, this mystery is too great for
thee; and of the further mystery I will not speak one word.
Yet for this cause am I come unto thee as the Angel of the Aethyr, striking
with my hammer upon thy bell, so that thou mightest understand the mysteries
of the Aethyr, and of the vision and the voice thereof.
For behold! he that understandeth seeth not and heareth not in truth,
because of his understanding that letteth him. But this shall be unto thee
for a sign, that I will surely come unto thee unawares and appear unto thee.
And it is no odds, ("i.e.", that at this hour I appear not as I am), for so
terrible is the glory of the vision, and so wonderful is the splendour of the
voice, that when thou seest it and hearest it in truth, for many hours shalt
thou be bereft of sense. And thou shalt lie between heaven and earth in a
void place, entranced, and the end thereof shall be silence, even as it was,
not once nor twice, when I have met with thee, as it were, upon the road to
Damascus.
And thou shalt not seek to better this my instruction; but thou shalt
interpret it, and make it easy, for them that seek {115} understanding. And
thou shalt give all that thou hast unto them that have need unto this end.
And because I am with thee, and in thee, and of thee, thou shalt lack
nothing. But who lack me, lack all. And I swear unto thee by Him that
sitteth upon the Holy Throne, and liveth and reigneth for ever and ever, that
I will be faithful unto this my promise, as thou art faithful unto this thine
obligation.
Now another voice sounds in the Aethyr, saying: And there was darkness over
all the earth unto the ninth hour.
And with that the Angel is withdrawn, and the pyramid of light seems very
far off.
And now I am fallen unto the earth, exceeding weary. Yet my skin trembles
with the impact of the light, and all my body shakes. And there is a peace
deeper than sleep upon my mind. It is the body and the mind that are weary,
and I would that they were dead, save that I must bend them to my work.
And now I am in the tent, under the stars.
THE DESERT BETWEEN BOU-SAADA AND BISKRA.
"December" 8, 1909. 7.10-9.10 p.m.
THE CRY OF THE 7TH AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED DEO
The stone is divided, the left half dark, the right half light, and at the
bottom thereof is a certain blackness, of three divergent columns. And it
seems as if the black and white halves are the halves of a door, and in the
door is a little key-hole, in the shape of the Astrological symbol of Venus.
And from the key-hole issue flames, blue and green and {116} violet, but
without any touch of yellow or red in them. It seems as if there were a wind
beyond the door, that is blowing the flame out.
And a voice comes: "Who is he that hath the key to the gate of the evening
star?"
And now an Angel cometh and seeketh to open the door by trying many keys.
And they are none of any avail. And the same voice saith: "The five and the
six are balanced in the word Abrahadabra, and therein is the mystery
disclosed. But the key unto this gate is the balance of the seven and the
four; and of this thou hast not even the first letter. Now there is a word of
four letters that containeth in itself all the mystery of the Tetragrammaton,
and there is a word of seven letters which it concealeth, and that again
concealeth the holy word that is the key of the abyss.19 And this thou shalt
find, revolving it in thy mind.
19 These words are probably BABALON, C"h"AOS, TARO.
Hide therefore thine eyes. And I will set my key in the lock, and open it.
Yet still let thine eyes be hidden, for thou canst not bear the glory that is
within.
So, therefore, I covered mine eyes with my hands. Yet through my hands
could I perceive a little of those bowers of azure flame.
And a voice said: It is kindled into fire that was the blue breast of
ocean; because this is the bar of heaven, and the feet of the Most High are
set thereon.
Now I behold more fully: Each tongue of flame, each leaf of flame, each
flower of flame, is one of the great love-stories of the world, with all its
retinue of "mise-en-sc?ne." And now there is a most marvelous rose formed from
the flame, and a {117} perpetual rain of lilies and passion-flowers and
violets. And there is gathered out of it all, yet identical with it, the form
of a woman like the woman in the Apocalypse, but her beauty and her radiance
are such that one cannot look thereon, save with sidelong glances. I enter
immediately into trance. It seems that it is she of whom it is written, "The
fool hath said in his heart 'there is no God.'" But the words are not Ain
Elohim, but La (=nay!) and Elohim contracted from 86 to 14, because La is 31,
which x 14 is 434, Daleth, Lamed, Tau. This fool is the fool of the Path of
Aleph, and sayeth, which is Chokmah, in his heart, which is Tiphereth, that
she existeth, in order first that the Wisdom may be joined with the
Understanding; and he affirmeth her in Tiphereth that she may be fertile.
It is impossible to describe how this vision changeth from glory unto
glory, for at each glance the vision is changed. And this is because she
transmitteth the Word to the Understanding, and therefore hath she many forms,
and each goddess of love is but a letter of the alphabet of love.
Now, there is a mystery in the word Logos, that containeth the three
letters whose analogy hath been shown in the lower heavens, Samech, and Lamed,
and Gimel, that are 93, which is thrice 31, and in them are set the two eyes
of Horus. (Ayin means an eye.) For, if it were not so, the arrow could not
pierce the rainbow, and there could be no poise in the balance, and the Great
Book should never be unsealed. But this is she that poureth the Water of Life
upon her head, whence it floweth to fructify the earth. But now the whole
Aethyr is the most brilliant peacock blue. It "is" the Universal Peacock that I
behold. {118}
And there is a voice: Is not this bird the bird of Juno, that is an
hundred, and thirty, and six? And therefore is she the mate of Jupiter.20
And now the peacock's head is again changed into a woman's head sparkling
and coruscating with its own light of gems.
But I look upwards, seeing that she is called the footstool of the Holy
One, even as Binah is called His throne. And the whole Aethyr is full of the
most wonderful bands of light, --- a thousand different curves and whorls,
even as it was before, when I spake mysteries of the Holy Qabalah, and so
could not describe it.
Oh, I see vast plains beneath her feet, enormous deserts studded with great
rocks; and I see little lonely souls, running helplessly about, minute black
creatures like men. And they keep up a very curious howling, that I can
compare to nothing that I have ever heard; yet it is strangely human.
And the voice says: These are they that grasped love and clung thereto,
praying ever at the knees of the great goddess. These are they that have shut
themselves up in fortresses of Love.
Each plume of the peacock is full of eyes, that are at the same time 4 x 7.
And for this is the number 28 reflected down into Netzach; and that 28 is Kaph
Cheth (Kach), power. For she is Sakti, the eternal energy of the Concealed
One. And it is her eternal energy that hath made this eternal change. And
this explaineth the call of the Aethyrs, the curse that was pronounced in the
beginning being but the creation of Sakti. And this mystery is reflected in
the legend of the {119} Creation, where Adam represents the Concealed One, for
Adam is Temurah of MAD, the Enochian word for God, and Eve, whom he created
20 The fourth of the mystic numbers of Jupiter is 136.
for love, is tempted by the snake, Nechesh, who is Messiah her child. And the
snake is the magical power, which hath destroyed the primordial equilibrium.
And the garden is the supernal Eden, where is Ayin, 70, the Eye of the
Concealed One, and the creative Lingam; and Daleth, love; and Nun the serpent.
And therefore this constitution was implicitly in the nature of Eden ("cf."
Liber L., I., 29, 30), so that the call of the Aethyrs could not have been any
other call than that which it is.
But they that are without understanding have interpreted all this askew,
because of the Mystery of the Abyss, for there is no Path from Binah unto
Chesed; and therefore the course of the Flaming Sword was no more a current,
but a spark. And when the Stooping Dragon raised his head unto D?ath in the
course of that spark, there was, as it were, an explosion, and his head was
blasted. And the ashes thereof were dispersed throughout the whole of the
10th Aethyr. And for this, all knowledge is piecemeal, and it is of no value
unless it be co-ordinated by Understanding.
And now the form of the Aethyr is the form of a mighty Eagle of ruddy
brass. And the plumes are set alight, and are whirled round and round until
the whole heaven is blackness with these flying sparks therein.
Now it is all branching streams of golden fire tipped with scarlet at the
edges.
And now She cometh forth again, riding upon a dolphin. Now again I see
those wandering souls, that have sought {120} restricted love, and have not
understood that "the word of sin is restriction."
It is very curious; they seem to be looking for one another or for
something, all the time, constantly hurrying about. But they knock up against
one another and yet will not see one another, or cannot see one another,
because they are so shut up in their cloaks.
And a voice sounds: It is most terrible for the one that hath shut himself
up and made himself fast against the universe. For they that sit encamped
upon the sea in the city of the Pyramids are indeed shut up. But they have
given their blood, even to the last drop, to fill the cup of BABALON.
These that thou seest are indeed the Black Brothers, for it is written: "He
shall laugh at their calamity and mock when their fear cometh." And therefore
hath he exalted them unto the plane of love.
And yet again it is written: He desireth not the death of a sinner, but
rather that he should turn from his wickedness. Now, if one of these were to
cast off his cloak he should behold the brilliance of the lady of the Aethyr;
but they will not.
And yet again there is another cause wherefore He hath permitted them to
enter thus far within the frontiers of Eden, so that His thought should never
swerve from compassion. But do thou behold the brilliance of Love, that
casteth forth seven stars upon thine head from her right hand, and crowneth
thee with a crown of seven roses. Behold! She is seated upon the throne of
turquoise and lapis lazuli, and she is like a flawless emerald, and upon the
pillars that support the canopy {121} of her throne are sculptured the Ram,
and the Sparrow, and the Cat, and a strange fish. Behold! How she shineth!
Behold! How her glances have kindled all these fires that have blown about
the heavens! Yet remember that in every one there goeth forth for a witness
the justice of the Most High. Is not Libra the House of Venus? And there
goeth forth a sickle that shall reap every flower. Is not Saturn exalted in
Libra? Daleth, Lamed, Tau.
And therefore was he a fool who uttered her name in his heart, for the root
of evil is the root of breath, and the speech in the silence was a lie.
Thus is it seen from below by them that understand not. But from above he
rejoiceth, for the joy of dissolution is ten thousand, and the pang of birth
but a little.
And now thou shalt go forth from the Aethyr, for the voice of the Aethyr is
hidden and concealed from thee because thou hadst not the key of the door
thereof, and thine eyes were not able to bear the splendour of the vision.
But thou shalt meditate upon the mysteries thereof, and upon the lady of the
Aethyr; and it may be by the wisdom of the Most High that the true voice of
the Aethyr, that is continual song, may be heard of thee.
Return therefore instantly unto the earth, and sleep not for a while; but
withdraw thyself from this matter. And it shall be enough.
Thus then was I obedient unto the voice, and returned into my body.
W'AIN-T-AISSHA, ALGERIA.
"December" 9, 1909. 8.10-10 p.m.
{122)
THE CRY OF THE 6TH AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED MAZ
There cometh into the stone the great Angel whose name is Av?, and in him
there are symbols which strive for mastery, --- Sulphur and the Pentagram, and
they are harmonized by the Swastika. These symbols are found both in the name
of Av? and in the name of the Aethyr. Thus he is neither Horus nor Osiris.
He is called the radiance of Thoth; and this Aethyr is very hard to
understand, for the images form and dissolve more rapidly than lightning.
These images are the illusions made by the Ape of Thoth. And this I
understand, that I am not worthy to receive the mysteries of this Aethyr. And
all this which I have seen (being all the thoughts that I have ever thought)
is, as it were, a guardian of the Aethyr.
I seem quite helpless. I am trying all sorts of magical methods of
piercing the veil: and the more I strive, the farther away I seem to get from
success. But a voice comes now: Must not understanding lie open unto wisdom
as the pyramids lie open to the stars?
Accordingly, I wait in a certain magical posture which it is not fitting to
disclose, and above me appears the starry heaven of night, and one star
greater than all the other stars. It is a star of eight rays. I recognize it
as the star in the seventeenth key of the Tarot, as the Star of Mercury. And
the light of it cometh from the path of Aleph. And the letter Cheth is also
involved in the interpretation of this star, and the paths of h? and vau are
the separations which this Star unites. And in the heart of the star is an
exceeding splendour, --- a god standing upon the moon, brilliant beyond
imagining. {123} It is like unto the vision of the Universal Mercury. But
this is the Fixed Mercury, and h? and vau are the perfected sulphur and salt.
But now I come into the centre of the maze, and whirling dust of stars and
great forgotten gods. It is the whirling Svastika which throws off all these
things, for the Svastika is in aleph by its shape and number, and in beth by
the position of the arms of the Magician, and in gimel because of the sign of
the Mourning of Isis, and thus is the Crown defended by these three
thunderbolts. Is not thrice seventeen fifty-one, that is, failure and pain?
Now I am shut out again by this black Svastika with a corona of fire about
it.
And a voice cries: Cursed be he that shall uncover the nakedness of the
Most High, for he is drunken upon the wine that is the blood of the adepts.
And BABALON hath lulled him to sleep upon her breast, and she hath fled away,
and left him naked, and she hath called her children together, saying: Come up
with me, and let us make a mock of the nakedness of the Most High.
And the first of the adepts covered His shame with a cloth, walking
backwards; and was white. And the second of the adepts covered His shame with
a cloth, walking sideways and was yellow. And the third of the adepts made a
mock of His nakedness, walking forwards; and was black. And these are three
great schools of the Magi, who are also the three Magi that journeyed unto
Bethlehem; and because thou hast not wisdom, thou shalt not know which school
prevaileth, or if the three schools be not one. For the Black Brothers lift
not up their heads thus far into the Holy Chokmah, for they were all drowned
in the great flood, which is Binah, {124} before the true vine could be
planted upon the holy hill of Zion.
Now again I stand in the centre, and all things whirl by with incessant
fury. And the thought of the god entereth my mind, and I cry aloud: Behold,
the volatile is become fixed; and in the heart of eternal motion is eternal
rest. So is the Peace beneath the sea that rageth with her storms; so is the
changeful moon, the dead planet that revolveth no more. So the far-seeing,
the far-darting hawk is poised passionless in the blue; so also the ibis that
is long of limb meditateth solitary in the sign of Sulphur. Behold, I stand
ever before the Eternal One in the sign of the Enterer. And by virtue of my
speech is he wrapped about in silence, and he is wrapped in mystery by me, who
am the Unveiler of the Mysteries. And although I be truth, yet do they call
me rightly the God of Lies, for speech is two-fold, and truth is one. Yet I
stand at the centre of the spider's web, whereof the golden filaments reach to
infinity.
But thou that art with me in the spirit-vision art not with me by right of
Attainment, and thou canst not stay in this place to behold how I run and
return, and who are the flies that are caught in my web. For I am the inmost
guardian that is immediately before the shrine.
None shall pass by me except he slay me, and this is his curse, that,
having slain me, he must take my office and become the maker of Illusions, the
great deceiver, the setter of snares; he who baffleth even them that have
understanding. For I stand on every path, and turn them aside from the truth
by my words, and by my magick arts.
And this is the horror that was shown by the lake that was {125} nigh unto
the City of the Seven Hills, and this is the Mystery of the great prophets
that have come unto mankind. Moses, and Buddha, and Lao Tan, and Krishna, and
Jesus, and Osiris, and Mohammed; for all these attained unto the grade of
Magus, and therefore were they bound with the curse of Thoth. But, being
guardians of the truth, they have taught nothing but falsehood, except unto
such as understood; for the truth may not pass the Gate of the Abyss.
But the reflection of the truth hath been shown in the lower Sephiroth.
And its balance is in Beauty, and therefore have they who sought only beauty
come nearest to the truth. For the beauty receiveth directly three rays from
the supernals, and the others no more than one. So, therefore, they that have
sought after majesty and power and victory and learning and happiness and
gold, have been discomfited. And these sayings are the lights of wisdom that
thou mayst know thy Master, for he is a Magus. And because thou didst eat of
the Pomegranate in hell, for half the year art thou concealed, and half the
year revealed.
Now I perceive the Temple that is the heart of this Aethyr; it is an Urn
suspended in the air, without support, above the centre of a well. And the
well hath eight pillars, and a canopy above it, and without there is a circle
of marble paving-stones, and without them a great outer circle of pillars.
And beyond there is the forest of the stars. But the Urn is the wonderful
thing in all this; it is made of fixed Mercury; and within it are the ashes of
the Book Tarot, which hath been utterly consumed.
And this is that mystery which is spoken of in the Acts of the Apostles;
that Jupiter and Mercury (Kether and Chokmah) {126} visited (that is,
inspired), Ephesus, the City of Diana, Binah --- was not Diana a black stone?
--- and they burnt their books of magick.
Now it seems that the centre of infinite space is that Urn, and Hadit is
the fire that hath burnt up the book Tarot. For in the book Tarot was
preserved all of the wisdom (for the Tarot was called the Book of Thoth), of
the Aeon that is passed. And in the Book of Enoch was first given the wisdom
of the New Aeon. And it was hidden for three hundred years, because it was
wrested untimely from the Tree of Life by the hand of a desperate magician.
For it was the Master of that Magician who overthrew the power of the
Christian church; but the pupil rebelled against the master, for he foresaw
that the New ("i.e.", the Protestant) would be worse than the Old. But he
understood not the purpose of his Master, and that was, to prepare the way for
the overthrowing of the Aeon.
There is a writing upon the Urn of which I can but read the (two) words:
Stabat Crux juxta Lucem. Stabat Lux juxta Crucem.
And there is writing in Greek above that. The word "nox" written in Greek,
and a circle with a cross in the centre of it, a St. Andrew's cross.
Then above that is a sigil("?"), hidden by a hand.
And a voice proceedeth from the Urn: From the ashes of the Tarot who shall
make the phoenix-wand? Not even he who by his understanding hath made the
lotus-wand to grow in the Great Sea. Get thee back, for thou art not an
Atheist, and though thou have violated thy mother, thou hast not slain thy
father. Get thee back from the Urn; thy ashes are not hidden here. {127}
Then again arose the God Thoth, in the sign of the Enterer, and he drove
the seer from before his face. And he fell through the starry night unto the
little village in the desert.
BENISHRUR, ALGERIA.
"December" 10, 1909. 7.40-9.40 p.m.
THE CRY OF THE 5TH AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED LIT
There is a shining pylon, above which is set the sigil of the eye, within
the shining triangle. Light streams through the pylon from before the face of
Isis-Hathor, for she weareth the lunar crown of cows' horns, with the disk in
the centre; at her breast she beareth the child Horus.
And there is a voice: thou knowest not how the Seven was united with the
Four; much less then canst thou understand the marriage of the Eight and the
Three. Yet there is a word wherein these are made one, and therein is
contained the Mystery that thou seekest, concerning the rending asunder of the
veil of my Mother.
Now there is an avenue of pylons (not one alone), steep after steep, carved
from the solid rock of the mountain; and that rock is a substance harder than
diamond, and brighter than light, and heavier than lead. In each pylon is
seated a god. There seems an endless series of these pylons. And all the
gods of all the nations of the earth are shown, for there are many avenues,
all leading to the top of the mountain.
Now I come to the top of the mountain, and the last pylon opens into a
circular hall, with other pylons leading out of it, each of which is the last
pylon of a great avenue; there seem {128} to be nine such pylons. And in the
centre is a shrine, a circular table, supported by marble figures of men and
women, alternate white and black; they face inwards, and their buttocks are
almost worn away by the kisses of those who have come to worship that supreme
God, who is the single end of all these diverse religions. But the shrine
itself is higher than a man may reach.
But the Angel that was with me lifted me, and I saw that the edge of the
altar, as I must call it, was surrounded by holy men. Each has in his right
hand a weapon --- one a sword, one a spear, one a thunderbolt, and so on, but
each with his left hand gives the sign of silence. I wish to see what is
within their ring. One of them bends forward so that I may whisper the pass-
word. The Angel prompts me to whisper: "There is no god." So they let me
pass, and though there was indeed nothing visible therein, yet there was a
very strange atmosphere, which I could not understand.
Suspended in the air there is a silver star, and on the forehead of each of
the guardians there is a silver star. It is a pentagram, --- because, says
the Angel, three and five are eight; three and eight are eleven. (There is
another numerical reason that I cannot hear.)
And as I entered their ring, they bade me stand in their circle, and a
weapon was given unto me. And the pass-word that I had given seems to have
been whispered round from one to the other, for each one nods gravely as if in
solemn acquiescence, until the last one whispers the same words in my ears.
But they have a different sense. I had taken them to be a denial of the
existence of God, but the man who says them to me evidently means nothing of
the sort: What he {129} does mean I cannot tell at all. He slightly
emphasized the word "there".
And now all is suddenly blotted out, and instead appears the Angel of the
Aethyr. He is all in black, burnished black scales, just edged with gold. He
has vast wings, with terrible claws on the ends, and he has a fierce face,
like a dragon's, and dreadful eyes that pierce one through and through.
And he says: O thou that art so dull of understanding, when wilt thou begin
to annihilate thyself in the mysteries of the Aethyrs? For all that thou
thinkest is but thy thought; and as there is no god in the ultimate shrine, so
there is no I in thine own Cosmos.
They that have said this are of them that understood. And all men have
misinterpreted it, even as thou didst misinterpret it. He says some more: I
cannot catch it properly, but it seems to be to the effect that the true God
is equally in all the shrines, and the true I in all the parts of the body and
the soul. He speaks with such a terrible roaring that it is impossible to
hear the words; one catches a a phrase here and there, or a glimpse of the
idea. With every word he belches forth smoke, so that the whole Aethyr
becomes full of it.
And now I hear the Angel: Every particle of matter that forms the smoke of
my breath is a religion that hath flourished among the inhabitants of the
worlds. Thus are they all whirled forth in my breath.
Now he is giving a demonstration of this Operation. And he says: Know thou
that all the religions of all the worlds end herein, but they are only the
smoke of my breath, and I am only the head of the Great Dragon that eateth up
the Universe; {130} without whom the Fifth Aethyr would be perfect, even as
the first. Yet unless he pass by me, can no man come unto the perfections.
And the rule is ended that hath bound thee, and this shall be thy rule:
that thou shalt purify thyself, and anoint thyself with perfume; and thou
shalt be in the sunlight, the day being free from clouds. And thou shalt make
the Call of the Aethyr in silence.
Now, then, behold how the head of the dragon is but the tail of the Aethyr!
Many are they that have fought their way from mansion to mansion of the
Everlasting House, and beholding me at last have returned, declaring, "Fearful
is the aspect of the Mighty and Terrible One." Happy are they that have known
me for whom I am. And glory unto him that hath made a gallery of my throat
for his arrow of truth, and the moon for his purity.
The moon waneth. The moon waneth. The moon waneth. For in that arrow is
the Light of Truth that overmastereth the light of the sun, whereby she
shines. The arrow is fledged with the plumes of Maat, that are the plumes of
Amoun, and the shaft is the phallus of Amoun, the Concealed One. And the barb
thereof is the star that thou sawest in the place where was No God.
And of them that guarded the star, there was not found one worthy to wield
the Arrow. And of them that worshipped there was not found one worthy to
behold the Arrow. Yet the star that thou sawest was but the barb of the
Arrow, and thou hadst not the wit to grasp the shaft, or the purity to divine
the plumes. Now therefore is he blessed that is born under the sign of the
Arrow, and blessed is he that hath the sigil {131} of the head of the crowned
lion and the body of the Snake and the Arrow therewith.
Yet do thou distinguish between the upward and the downward Arrows, for the
upward arrow is straitened in its flight, and it is shot by a firm hand, for
Jesod is Jod Tetragrammaton, and Jod is a hand, but the downward arrow is shot
by the topmost point of the Jod; and that Jod is the Hermit, and it is the
minute point that is not extended, that is nigh unto the heart of Hadit.
And now it is commanded thee that thou withdraw thyself from the Vision,
and on the morrow, at the appointed hour, shall it be given thee further, as
thou goest upon thy way, meditating this mystery. And thou shalt summon the
Scribe, and that which shall be written, shall be written.
Therefore I withdraw myself, as I am commanded.
THE DESERT BETWEEN BENSHRUR AND TOLGA.
"December" 12, 1909, 7 - 8.12 p.m.
Now then art thou approached unto an august Arcanum; verily thou art come
unto the ancient Marvel, the winged light, the Fountains of Fire, the Mystery
of the Wedge. But it is not I that can reveal it, for I have never been
permitted to behold it, who am but the watcher upon the threshold of the
Aethyr. My message is spoken, and my mission is accomplished. And I withdraw
myself, covering my face with my wings, before the presence of the Angel of
the Aethyr.
So the Angel departed with bowed head, folding his wings across.
And there is a little child in a mist of blue light; he hath golden hair, a
mass of curls, and deep blue eyes. Yea, he is all {132} golden, with a
living, vivid gold. And in each hand he hath a snake; in the right hand a
red, in the left a blue. And he hath red sandals, but no other garment.
And he sayeth: Is not life a long initiation unto sorrow? And is not Isis
the Lady of Sorrow? And she is my mother. Nature is her name, and she hath a
twin sister Nephthys, whose name is Perfection. And Isis must be known of
all, but of how few is Nephthys known! Because she is dark, therefore is she
feared.
But thou who hast adored her without fear, who hast made thy life an
initiation into her Mystery, thou that hast neither mother nor father, nor
sister nor brother, nor wife nor child, who hast made thyself lonely as the
hermit crab that is in the waters of the Great Sea, behold! when the sistrons
are shaken, and the trumpets blare forth the glory of Isis, at the end thereof
there is silence, and thou shalt commune with Nephthys.
And having known these, there are the wings of Maut the Vulture. Thou
mayest draw to an head the bow of thy magical will; thou mayest loose the
shaft and pierce her to the heart. I am Eros. Take then the bow and the
quiver from my shoulders and slay me; for unless thou slay me, thou shalt not
unveil the Mystery of the Aethyr.
Therefore I did as he commanded; in the quiver were two arrows, one white,
one black. I cannot force myself to fit an arrow to the bow.
And there came a voice: It must needs be.
And I said: No man can do this thing.
And the voice answered, as it were an echo: "Nemo hoc facere potest." {133}
Then came understanding to me, and I took forth the Arrows. The white
arrow had no barb, but the black arrow was barbed like a forest of fish-hooks;
it was bound round with brass, and it had been dipped in deadly poison. Then
I fitted the white arrow to the string, and I shot it against the heart of
Eros, and though I shot with all my force, it fell harmlessly from his side.
But at that moment the black arrow was thrust through mine own heart. I am
filled with fearful agony.
And the child smiles, and says: Although thy shaft hath pierced thee {WEH
NOTE: sic, may be "me"} not, although the envenomed barb hath struck thee
through, yet I am slain, and thou livest and triumphest, for I am thou and
thou art I.
With that he disappears, and the Aethyr splits with a roar as of ten
thousand thunders. And behold, The Arrow! The plumes of Maat are its crown,
set about the disk. It is the Ateph crown of Thoth, and there is the shaft of
burning light, and beneath there is a silver wedge.
I shudder and tremble at the vision, for all about it are whorls and
torrents of tempestuous fire. The stars of heaven are caught in the ashes of
the flame. And they are all dark. That which was a blazing sun is like a
speck of ash. And in the midst the Arrow burns!
I see that the crown of the Arrow is the Father of all Light, and the shaft
of the Arrow is the Father of all Life, and the barb of the Arrow is the
Father of all Love. For that silver wedge is like a lotus flower, and the Eye
within the Ateph Crown crieth: I watch. And the Shaft crieth: I work. And
the Barb crieth: I wait. And the Voice of the Aethyr echoeth: It beams. It
burns. It blooms.
And now there cometh a strange thought; this Arrow is {134} the source of
all motion; it is infinite motion, yet it moveth not, so that there "is" no
motion. And therefore there is no matter. This Arrow is the glance of the
Eye of Shiva. But because it moveth not, the universe is not destroyed. The
universe is put forth and swallowed up in the quivering of the plumes of Maat,
that are the plumes of the Arrow; but those plumes quiver not.
And a voice comes: That which is above is "not" like that which is below.
And another voice answers it: That which is below is "not" like that which is
above.
And a third voice answers these two: What is above and what is below? For
there is the division that divideth not, and the multiplication that
multiplieth not. And the One is the many. Behold, this Mystery is beyond
understanding, for the winged globe is the crown, and the shaft is the wisdom,
and the barb is the understanding. And the Arrow is one, and thou art lost in
the Mystery, who art but as a babe that is carried in the womb of its mother,
that art not yet ready for the light.
And the vision overcometh me. My sense is stunned; my sight is blasted; my
hearing is dulled.
And a voice cometh: Thou didst seek the remedy of sorrow; therefore all
sorrow is thy portion. This is that which is written: "God hath laid upon him
the iniquity of us all." For as thy blood is mingled in the cup of BABALON,
so is thine heart the universal heart. Yet is it bound about with the Green
Serpent, the Serpent of Delight.
It is shown me that this heart is the heart that rejoiceth, and the serpent
is the serpent of Death for herein all the symbols are interchangeable, for
each one containeth in itself {135} its own opposite. And this is the great
Mystery of the Supernals that are beyond the Abyss. For below the Abyss,
contradiction is division; but above the Abyss, contradiction is Unity. And
there could be nothing true except by virtue of the contradiction that is
contained in itself.
Thou canst not believe how marvelous is this vision of the Arrow. And it
could never be shut out, except the Lords of Vision troubled the waters of the
pool, the mind of the Seer. But they send forth a wind that is a cloud of
Angels, and they beat the water with their feet, and little waves splash up
--- they are memories. For the seer hath no head; it is expanded into the
universe, a vast and silent sea, crowned with the stars of night. Yet in the
very midst thereof is the arrow. Little images of things that were, are the
foam upon the waves. And there is a contest between the Vision and the
memories. I prayed unto the Lords of Vision, saying: O my Lords, take not
away this wonder from my sight.
And they said: It must needs be. Rejoice therefore if thou hast been
permitted to behold, even for a moment, this Arrow, the austere, the august.
But the vision is accomplished, and we have sent forth a great wind against
thee. For thou canst not penetrate by force, who hast refused it; nor by
authority, for thou hast trampled it under foot. Thou art bereft of all but
understanding, O thou that art no more than a little pile of dust!
And the images rise up against me and constrain me, so that the Aethyr is
shut against me. Only the things of the mind and of the body are open unto
me. The shew-stone is dull, for that which I see therein is but a memory.
TOLGA, ALGERIA
"December" 13, 1909. 8.15-10.10 p.m.
THE CRY OF THE 4TH AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED PAZ
The Stone is translucent and luminous, and no images enter therein.
A voice says: Behold the brilliance of the Lord, whose feet are set upon
him that pardoneth transgression. Behold the six-fold Star that flameth in
the Vault, the seal of the marriage of the great White King and his black
slave.
So I looked into the Stone, and beheld the six-fold Star: the whole Aethyr
is as tawny clouds, like the flame of a furnace. And there is a mighty host
of Angels, blue and golden, that throng it, and they cry: Holy, Holy, Holy art
thou, that art not shaken in the earthquakes, and in the thunders! The end of
things is come upon us; the day of be-with-us is at hand! For he hath created
the universe, and overthrown it, that he might take his pleasure thereupon.
And now, in the midst of the Aethyr, I beheld that god. He hath a thousand
arms, and in each hand is a weapon of terrible strength. His face is more
terrible than the storm, and from his eyes flash lightnings of intolerable
brilliance. From his mouth run seas of blood. Upon his head is a crown of
every deadly thing. Upon his forehead is the upright tau, and on either side
of it are the signs of blasphemy. And about him clingeth a young girl, like
unto the king's daughter that appeareth in the ninth Aethyr. But she is
become rosy by reason of his force, and her purity hath tinged his black with
blue.
They are clasped in a furious embrace, so that she is torn asunder by the
terror of the god; yet so tightly clingeth she about him, that he is
strangled. She hath forced back his {137} head, and his throat is livid with
the pressure of her fingers. Their joint cry is an intolerable anguish, yet
it is the cry of their rapture, so that every pain, and every curse, and every
bereavement, and every death of everything in the whole universe, is but one
little gust of wind in that tempest-scream of ecstasy.
The voice thereof is not articulate. It is in vain to seek comparison. It
is absolutely continuous, without breaks or beats. If there seem to be
vibration therein, it is because of the imperfection of the ears of the seer.
And there cometh an interior voice, which sayeth to the seer that he hath
trained his eyes well and can see much; and he hath trained his ears a little,
and can hear a little; but his other senses hath he trained scarcely at all,
and therefore the Aethyrs are almost silent to him on those planes. By the
senses are meant the spiritual correlations of the senses, not the physical
senses. But this matters little, because the Seer, so far as he is a seer, is
the expression of the spirit of humanity. What is true of him is true of
humanity, so that even if he had been able to receive the full Aethyrs, he
could not have communicated them.
And an Angel speaks: Behold, this vision is utterly beyond thine
understanding. Yet shalt thou endeavour to unite thyself with the dreadful
marriage-bed.
So I am torn asunder, nerve from nerve and vein from vein, and more
intimately --- cell from cell, molecule from molecule, and atom from atom, and
at the same time all crushed together. Write down that the tearing asunder "is"
a crushing together. All the double phenomena are only two ways of looking at
a single phenomenon; and the single phenomenon {138} is Peace. There is no
sense in my words or in my thoughts. "Faces half-formed arose." This is the
meaning of that passage; they are attempts to interpret Chaos, but Chaos is
Peace. Cosmos is the War of the Rose and the Cross. That was "a half-formed
face" that I said then. All images are useless.
Blackness, blackness intolerable, before the beginning of the light. This
is the first verse of Genesis. Holy art thou, Chaos, Chaos, Eternity, all
contradictions in terms!
Oh, blue! blue! blue! whose reflection in the Abyss is called the Great One
of the Night of Time; between ye vibrateth the Lord of the Forces of Matter.
O Nox, Nox qui celas infamiam infandi nefandi, Deo solo sit laus qui dedit
signum non scribendum. Laus virgini cuius stuprum tradit salutem.
O Night, that givest suck from thy paps to sorcery, and theft, and rape,
and gluttony, and murder, and tyranny, and to the nameless Horror, cover us,
cover us, cover us from the Rod of Destiny; for Cosmos must come, and the
balance be set up where there was no need of balance, because there was no
injustice, but only truth. But when the balances are equal, scale matched
with scale, then will Chaos return.
Yea, as in a looking-glass, so in thy mind, that is backed with the false
metal of lying, is every symbol read averse. Lo! everything wherein thou hast
trusted must confound thee, and that thou didst flee from was thy saviour. So
therefore didst thou shriek in the Black Sabbath when thou didst kiss the
hairy buttocks of the goat, when the gnarled god tore thee asunder, when the
icy cataract of death swept thee away.
Shriek, therefore, shriek aloud; mingle the roar of the {139} gored lion
and the moan of the torn bull, and the cry of the man that is torn by the
claws of the Eagle, and the scream of the Eagle that is strangled by the hands
of the Man. Mingle all these in the death-shriek of the Sphinx, for the blind
man hath profaned her mystery. Who is this, Oedipus, Tiresias, Erinyes? Who
is this, that is blind and a seer, a fool above wisdom? Whom do the hounds of
heaven follow, and the crocodiles of hell await? Aleph, vau, yod, ayin, resh,
tau, is his name.
Beneath his feet is the kingdom, and upon his head the crown. He is spirit
and matter; he is peace and power; in him is Chaos and Night and Pan, and upon
BABALON his concubine, that hath made him drunk upon the blood of the saints
that she hath gathered in her golden cup, hath he begotten the virgin that now
he doth deflower. And this is that which is written: Malkuth shall be
uplifted and set upon the throne of Binah. And this is the stone of the
philosophers that is set as a seal upon the tomb of Tetragrammaton, and the
elixir of life that is distilled from the blood of the saints, and the red
powder that is the grinding-up of the bones of Choronzon.
Terrible and wonderful is the Mystery thereof, O thou Titan that hast
climbed into the bed of Juno! Surely thou art bound unto, and broken upon,
the wheel; yet hast thou uncovered the nakedness of the Holy One, and the
Queen of Heaven is in travail of child, and his name shall be called Vir, and
Vis, and Virus, and Virtus, and Viridis, in one name that is all these, and
above all these.
Desolate, desolate is the Aethyr, for thou must return unto the habitations
of the Owl and the Bat, unto the Scorpions {140} of the sand, and the blanched
eyeless beetles that have neither wing nor horn. Return, blot out the vision,
wipe from thy mind the memory thereof; stifle the fire with green wood;
consume the Sacrament; cover the Altar; veil the Shrine; shut up the Temple
and spread booths in the market place; until the appointed time come when the
Holy One shall declare unto thee the Mystery of the Third Aethyr.
Yet be thou wake and ware, for the great Angel Hua is about thee, and
overshadoweth thee, and at any moment he may come upon thee unawares. The
voice of PAZ is ended.
BISKRA, ALGERIA.
"December" 16, 1909. 9 - 10.30 a.m.
THE CRY OF THE 3RD AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED ZON
There is an angry light in the stone; now it is become clear.
In the centre is that minute point of light which is the true Sun, and in
the circumference is the Emerald Snake. And joining them are the rays which
are the plumes of Maat, and because the distance is infinite, therefore are
they parallel from the circumference, although they diverge from the centre.
In all this is no voice and no motion.
And yet it seems that the great Snake feedeth upon the plumes of Truth as
upon itself, so that it contracteth. But ever so little as it contracteth,
without it gloweth the golden rim, which is that minute point in the centre.
And all this is the sigil of the Aethyr, gold and azure and green. Yet
also these are the Severities.
It is only in the first three Aethyrs that we find the pure {141} essence,
for all the other Aethyrs are but as Malkuth to complete these three triads,
as hath before been said. And this being the second reflection, therefore is
it the palace of two hundred and eighty judgments.
For all these paths21 are in the course of the Flaming Sword from the side
of Severity. And the other two paths are Zayin, which is a sword; and Shin,
which is a tooth. These are then the five severities which are 280.
All this is communicated to the Seer interiorly.
"And the eye of His benignancy is closed. Let it not be opened upon the
Aethyr, lest the severities be mitigated, and the house fall." Shall not the
house fall, and the Dragon sink? Verily all things have been swallowed up in
destruction; and Chaos hath opened his jaws and crushed the Universe as a
Bacchanal crusheth a grape between her teeth. Shall not destruction swallow
up destruction, and annihilation confound annihilation? Twenty and two are
the mansions of the House of my Father, but there cometh an ox that shall set
his forehead against the House, and it shall fall. For all these things are
the toys of the Magician and the Maker of Illusions, that barreth the
Understanding from the Crown.
O thou that hast beheld the City of the Pyramids, how shouldst thou behold
the House of the Juggler? For he is wisdom, and by wisdom hath he made the
Worlds, and from that wisdom issue judgements 70 by 4, that are the 4 eyes of
the double-headed one; that are the 4 devils, Satan, Lucifer, Leviathan,
Belial, that are the great princes of the evil of the world. {142}
And Satan is worshipped by men under the name of Jesus; and Lucifer is
worshipped by men under the name of Brahma; and Leviathan is worshipped by men
under the name of Allah; and Belial is worshipped by men under the name of
Buddha.
(This is the meaning of the passage in Liber Legis, Chap. III.)
Moreover, there is Mary, a blasphemy against BABALON, for she hath shut
herself up; and therefore is she the Queen of all those wicked devils that
walk upon the earth, those that thou sawest even as little black specks that
stained the Heaven of Urania. And all these are the excrement of Choronzon.
And for this is BABALON under the power of the Magician, that she hath
submitted herself unto the work; and she guardeth the Abyss. And in her is a
perfect purity of that which is above; yet she is sent as the Redeemer to them
that are below. For there is no other way into the Supernal Mystery but
through her, and the Beast on which she rideth; and the Magician is set beyond
her to deceive the brothers of blackness, lest they should make unto
themselves a crown; for if there were two crowns, then should Ygdrasil, that
ancient tree, be cast out into the Abyss, uprooted and cast down into the
Outermost Abyss, and the Arcanum which is in the Adytum should be profaned;
and the Ark should be touched, and the Lodge spied upon by them that are not
masters, and the bread of the Sacrament should be the dung of Choronzon; and
the wine of the Sacrament should be the water of Choronzon; and the incense
should be dispersion; and the fire upon the Altar should be hate. But lift up
thyself; stand, {143} play the man, for behold! there shall be revealed unto
thee the Great Terror, the thing of awe that hath no name.
And this is the mystery that I declare unto thee: that from the Crown
itself spring the three great delusions; Aleph is madness, and Beth is
falsehood, and Gimel is glamour. And these three be greater than all, for
they are beyond the words that I speak unto thee; how much more therefore are
they beyond the words that thou transmittest unto men.
Behold! the Veil of the Aethyr sundereth, and is torn, like a sail by the
breath of the tempest, and thou shalt see him as from afar off. This is that
which is written, "Confound her understanding with darkness," for thou canst
not speak this thing.
21 HB:Resh , HB:Lamed and HB:Nun (Sun, Libra and Scorpio), the Sun, the Balance
or plumes of Maat, and the Snake. Added they make 280.
It is the figure of the Magus of the Taro; and in his right arm the torch
of the flames blazing upwards; in his left the cup of poison, a cataract into
Hell. And upon his head the evil talisman, blasphemy and blasphemy and
blasphemy, in the form of a circle. That is the greatest blasphemy of all.22
On his feet hath he the scythes and swords and sickles; daggers; knives; every
sharp thing, --- a millionfold, and all in one. And before him is the Table
that is a Table of wickedness, the 42-fold Table. This Table is connected
with the 42 Assessors of the Dead, for they are the Accursers, whom the soul
must baffle; and with the 42-fold name of God, for this is the Mystery of
Iniquity, that there was ever a beginning at all. And this Magus casteth
forth, by the might of his four weapons, veil after veil; a thousand shining
colours, ripping and tearing the Aethyr, so that it is like jagged saws, or
like broken teeth in the face of a young girl, or like disruption, or {144}
madness. There is a horrible grinding sound, maddening. This is the mill in
which the Universal Substance, which is ether, was ground down into matter.
The Seer prayeth that a cloud may come between him and the sun, so that he
may shut out the terror of the vision. And he is afire; he is terribly
athirst; and no help can come to him, for the shew-stone blazeth ever with the
fury and the torment and the blackness, and the stench of human flesh. The
bowels of little children are torn out and thrust into his mouth, and poison
is dropped into his eyes. And Lilith, a black monkey crawling with filth,
running with open sores, an eye torn out, eaten of worms, her teeth rotten,
her nose eaten away, her mouth a putrid mass of green slime, her dugs dropping
and cancerous, clings to him, kisses him.
(Kill me! kill me!)
There is a mocking voice: Thou art become immortal. Thou wouldst look upon
the face of the Magician and thou hast not beheld him because of his Magick
veils.
(Don't torture me!)
Thus are all they fallen into the power of Lilith, who have dared to look
upon his face.
The shew-stone is all black and corrupt. O filth! filth! filth!
And this is her great blasphemy: that she hath taken the name of the First
Aethyr, and bound it on her brow, and added thereunto the shameless yod and
the tau for the sign of the Cross.
She it is that squatteth upon the Crucifix, for the nastiness of her
pleasure. So that they that worship Christ suck up her filth upon their
tongues, and therefore their breaths stink. {145}
I was saved from that Horror by a black shining Triangle, with apex
upwards, that came upon the face of the sun.
And now the shew-stone is all clear and beautiful again.
The pure pale gold of a fair maiden's hair, and the green of her girdle,
and the deep soft blue of her eyes.
"Note." --- In this the gold is Kether, the blue is Chokmah, the green is
Binah.
Thus she appeareth in the Aethyr, adorned with flowers and gems. It seems
that she hath incarnated herself upon earth, and that she will appear manifest
in a certain office in the Temple.
I have seen some picture like her face; I cannot think what picture. It is
a piquant face, with smiling eyes and lips; the ears are small and pink, the
complexion is fair, but not transparent; not as fair as one would expect from
the hair and eyes. It is rather an impudent face, rather small, very pretty;
the nose very slightly less than straight, well-proportioned, rather large
nostrils. Full of vitality, the whole thing. Now very tall, rather slim and
graceful; a good dancer.
There is another girl behind her, with sparkling eyes, mischievous, a smile
showing beautiful white teeth; an ideal Spanish girl, but fair. Very
22 "I.e.", that the circle should be profaned. This evil circle is
of three concentric rings.
vivacious. Only her head is visible, and now it is veiled by a black sun,
casting forth dull rays of black and gold.
Then the disk of the sun is a pair of balances, held steady; and twined
about the central pole of the balance is the little green poisonous snake,
with a long forked tongue rapidly darting.
And the Angel that hath spoken with me before, saith to me: The eye of His
benignancy is opened; therefore veileth {146} he thine eyes from the vision.
Manfully hast thou endured; yet, hast thou been man, thou hadst not endured;
and hadst thou been wholly that which thou art, thou shouldst have been caught
up in the full vision that is unspeakable for Horror. And thou shouldst have
beheld the face of the Magician that thou hast not been able to behold, --- of
him from whom issue forth the severities that are upon Malkuth, and his name
is Misericordia Dei.
And because he is the dyad, thou mayest yet understand in two ways. Of
first way, the Mercy of God is that Mercy which Jehovah showed to the
Amalekites; and the second way is utterly beyond thine understanding, for it
is the upright, and thou knowest nothing but the averse, --- until Wisdom
shall inform thine Understanding, and upon the base of the Ultimate triangle
arise the smooth point.
Veil therefore thine eyes, for that thou canst not master the Aethyr,
unless thy Mystery match Its Mystery. Seal up thy mouth also, for thou canst
not master the voice of the Aethyr, save only by Silence.
And thou shalt give the sign of the Mother, for BABALON is thy fortress
against the iniquity of the Abyss, of the iniquity of that which bindeth her
unto the Crown, and barreth her from the Crown; for not until thou art made
one with CHAOS canst thou begin that last, that most terrible projection, the
three-fold Regimen which alone constitutes the Great Work.
For Choronzon is as it were the shell or excrement of these three paths,
and therefore is his head raised unto Daath, and therefore have the Black
Brotherhood declared him to be the child of Wisdom and Understanding, who is
but the bastard of the Svastika. And this is that which is written in {147}
the Holy Qabalah, concerning the Whirlpool and Leviathan, and the Great Stone.
Thus long have I talked with thee in bidding thee depart, that the memory
of the Aethyr might be dulled; for hadst thou come back suddenly into thy
mortal frame, thou hadst fallen into madness or death. For the vision is not
such that any may endure it.
But now thy sense is dull, and the shew-stone but a stone. Therefore
awake, and give secretly and apart the sign of the Mother, and call four times
upon the name of CHAOS, that is the four-fold word that is equal to her seven-
fold word. And then shalt thou purify thyself, and return into the World.
So I did that which was commanded me, and returned.
BISKRA.
"December" 17, 1909. 9.30 - 11.30 a.m.
THE CRY OF THE 2ND AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED ARN
In the first place, there is again the woman riding on the bull, which is
the reflection of BABALON, that rideth on The Beast. And also there is an
Assyrian legend of a woman with a fish, and also there is a legend of Eve and
the Serpent, for Cain was the child of Eve and the Serpent, and not of Eve and
Adam; and therefore when he had slain his brother, who was the first murderer,
having sacrificed living things to his demon, had Cain the mark upon his brow,
which is the mark of the Beast spoken of in the Apocalypse, and is the sign of
initiation. {148}
The shedding of blood is necessary, for God did not hear the children of
Eve until blood was shed. And that is external religion; but Cain spake not
with God, nor had the mark of initiation upon his brow, so that he was shunned
by all men, until he had shed blood. And this blood was the blood of his
brother. This is a mystery of the sixth key of the Taro, which ought not to
be called The Lovers, but The Brothers.
In the middle of the card stands Cain; in his right hand is the Hammer of
Thor with which he hath slain his brother, and it is all wet with his blood.
And his left hand he holdeth open as a sign of innocence. And on his right
hand is his mother Eve, around whom the serpent is entwined with his hood
spread behind her head; and on his left hand is a figure somewhat like the
Hindoo Kali, but much more seductive. Yet I know it to be Lilith. And above
him is the Great Sigil of the Arrow, downward, but it is struck through the
heart of the child. This Child is also Abel. And the meaning of this part of
the card is obscure, but that is the correct drawing of the Taro card; and
that is the correct magical fable from which the Hebrew scribes, who were not
complete Initiates, stole their legend of the Fall and the subsequent events.
They joined different fables together to try and make a connected story, and
they sophisticated them to suit their social and political conditions.
All this while no image hath come unto the Stone, and no voice hath been
heard.
I cannot get any idea of the source of what I have been saying. All I can
say is, that there is a sort of dew, like mist, upon the Stone, and yet it has
become hot to the touch. {149}
All I get is that the Apocalypse was the recension of a dozen or so totally
disconnected allegories, that were pieced together, and ruthlessly planed down
to make them into a connected account; and that recension was re-written and
edited in the interests of Christianity, because people were complaining that
Christianity could show no true spiritual knowledge, or any food for the best
minds: nothing but miracles, which only deceived the most ignorant, and
Theology, which only suited pedants.23
So a man got hold of this recension, and turned it Christian, and imitated
the style of John. And this explains why the end of the world does not happen
every few years, as advertised.
There is nothing whatever in the Stone but a White Rose. And a voice
comes: there shall be no more red roses, for she hath crushed all the blood of
all things into her cup.
It seemed at one time as if the rose was in the breast of a beautiful
woman, high-bosomed, tall, stately, yet who danced like a snake. But there
was no subsistence in this vision.
And now I see the white Rose, as if it were in the beak of a swan, in the
picture by Michael Angelo in Venice. And that legend too is the legend of
BABALON.
But all this is before the veil of the Aethyr. Now will I go and make
certain preparations, and I will return and repeat the call of the Aethyr yet
again.
BISKRA.
"December" 18, 1909. 9.20 - 10.5 a.m.
{150}
It is not a question of being unable to get into the Aethyr, and trying to
struggle through; but one is not anywhere near it.
A voice comes: When thy dust shall strew the earth whereon She walketh,
then mayest thou bear the impress of Her foot. And thou thinkest to behold
Her face!
The Stone is become of the most brilliant whiteness, and yet, in that
whiteness, all the other colours are implicit. The colour of anything is but
its dullness, its obstructiveness. So is it with these visions. All that
they "are" is falsity. Every idea merely marks where the mind of the Seer was
too stupid to receive the light, and therefore reflected it. Therefore, as
the pure light is colourless, so is the pure soul black.
And this is the Mystery of the incest of CHAOS with his daughter.
23 WEH NOTE: See G.R.S.Mead's "Fragments of a Faith Forgot."
There is nothing whatever visible.
But I asked of the Angel that is at my side if the ceremony hath been duly
performed. And he says: Yes, the Aethyr is present. It is thou that canst
not perceive it, even as I cannot perceive it, because it is so entirely
beyond thy conception that there is nothing in thy mind on to which it can
cast a symbol, even as the emptiness of space is not heated by the fire of the
sun. And so pure is the light that it preventeth the formation of images, and
therefore have men called it darkness. For with any lesser light, the mind
responds, and makes for itself divers palaces. It is that which is written:
"In my Father's house there are many mansions"; and if the house be destroyed,
how much more the mansions that are therein! For this is the victory of
BABALON over the Magician that ensorcelled {151} her. For as the Mother she
is 3 by 52, and as the harlot she is 6 by 26; but she is also 12 by 13, and
that is the pure unity. Moreover she is 4 by 39, that is, victory over the
power of the 4, and in 2 by 78 hath she destroyed the great Sorcerer. Thus is
she the synthesis of 1 and 2 and 3 and 4, which being added are 10, therefore
could she set her daughter upon her own throne, and defile her own bed with
her virginity.
And I ask the Angel if there is any way by which I can make myself worthy
to behold the Mysteries of this Aethyr.
And he saith: It is not in my knowledge. Yet do thou make once more in
silence the Call of the Aethyr, and wait patiently upon the favour of the
Angel, for He is a mighty Angel, and never yet have I heard the whisper of his
wing.
This is the translation of the Call of the Aethyr.
O ye heavens which dwell in the first Aire, and are mighty in the parts of
the earth, and execute therein the judgment of the highest, to you it is said:
Behold the face of your God, the beginning of comfort, whose eyes are the
brightness of the heavens which provided you for the government of the earth,
and her unspeakable variety, furnishing you with a power of understanding,
that ye might dispose all things according to the foresight of Him that
sitteth on the Holy Throne, and rose up in the beginning, saying, The earth,
let her be governed by her parts (this is the prostitution of BABALON to Pan),
and let there be division in her (the formation of the Many from the One),
that her glory may be always ecstasy and irritation of orgasm. Her course let
it round with the heavens (that is, let her way be always harmonious with
heaven), and as an {152} handmaid let her serve them (that is, the Virgin of
Eternity climbing into the bed of CHAOS). One season let it confound another
(that is, let there be unwearying variety of predicates), and let there be no
creature upon or within her the same (that is, let there be an unwearying
variety of subjects). All her members let them differ in their qualities, and
let there be no one creature equal with another (for if there were any
duplication or omission, there would be no perfection in the whole). The
reasonable creatures of the earth and men, let them vex and weed out one
another (this is, the destruction of reason by internecine conflicts in the
course of redemption). And their dwelling places, let them forget their
names. (This is, the arising of Nemo.) The work of man and his pomp, let
them be defaced. (That is, in the Great Work man must lose his personality.)
His building, let it be a cave for the Beast of the Field. ("His building"
means the Vault of the Adepts, and the "Cave" is the Cave of the Mountain of
Abiegnus, and the "Beast" is he upon whom BABALON rideth, and the "Field" is
the supernal Eden.) Confound her understanding with darkness. (This sentence
is explained by what has been said concerning Binah.) For why, it rejoiceth
me concerning the Virgin and the Man. (Kelly did not understand this Call at
all, and he would not believe this sentence was written so, for it seemed to
contradict the rest of the Call, so he altered it.) One while let her be
known and another while a stranger, (that is, the Mystery of the Holy One
being at the same time identical with everything and apart from it), because
she is the bed of an harlot, and the dwelling of him that is fallen. (That is
that Mystery which was revealed in the last Aethyr; the universe being, as it
were, a garden wherein the Holy {153} Ones may take their pleasure.) O ye
heavens, arise; the lower heavens beneath you, let them serve you. (This is a
command for the whole of things to join in universal rapture.) Govern those
that govern; cast down such as fall; bring forth those that increase; and
destroy the rotten. (This means that everything shall take its own pleasure
in its own way.) No place let it remain in one number. ("No place" is the
infinite Ain . . . "Let remain in one number"; that is, let it be concentrated
in Kether.) Add and diminish until the stars be numbered. (It is a mystery
of the Logos being formulated by the Qabalah, because the stars, are all
letters of the Holy Alphabet, as it was said in a former Aethyr.) Arise!
Move! and Appear! before the covenant of his mouth which he hath shewn unto us
in his justice. ("The Covenant" is the letter Aleph; "His mouth", p?; "His
Justice", lamed; and these add up again to Aleph, so that it is in the letter
Aleph, which is zero, thus symbolizing the circles of the Aethyrs, that he
calleth them forth. But men thought that Aleph was the initial ARR, cursing,
when it was really the initial of AChD, unity, and AHBH, love. So that it was
the most horrible and wicked blasphemy of the blackest of all the black
brothers to begin Barashith with a beth, with the letter of the Magician.
Yet, by this simple device, hath he created the whole illusion of sorrow.)
Open the mysteries of your creation, and make us partakers of the undefiled
knowledge. (The word here is "IADNAMAD" is not the ordinary word for
knowledge. It is a word of eight letters, which is the secret name of God,
summarized in the letter cheth; for which see the Aethyr which correspondeth
to that letter, the twelfth Aethyr.)
Now from time to time I have looked into the Stone, but {154} never is
there any image therein, or any hint thereof; but now there are three arrows,
arranged thus:
{Illustration on page 155 described:
Three arrows intersecting in the common centers of the three shafts. Two are
diagonal, forming an "X" with points to top and fledging to bottom. The third
is vertical, bisecting the "X" with point below and fledging to the top. The
fledging takes the form of the two feathers of Maat, from the Ateph crown.}
This is the letter Aleph in the Alphabet of Arrows.
(I want to say that while I was doing the translation of the Call of the
Aethyrs, the soles of my feet were burning, as if I were on red hot steel.)
And now the fire has spread all over me, and parches me, and tortures me.
And my sweat is bitter like poison. And all my blood is acrid in my veins,
like gleet. I seem to be all festering, rotting; and the worms eating me
while I am yet alive.
A voice, neither in myself nor out of myself, is saying: Remember
Prometheus; remember Ixion.
I am tearing at nothing. I will not heed. For even this dust must be
consumed with fire.
And now, although there is no image, at last there is a sense of obstacle,
as if one were at length drawing near to the frontier of the Aethyr.
But I am dying.
I can neither strive nor wait. There is agony in my ears, and in my
throat, and mine eyes have been so long blind that I cannot remember that
there ever was such a thing as sight.
And it cometh to me that I should go away, and await the {155} coming of
the veil of the Aethyr; not here. I think I will go to the Hot Springs.
So I put away the Stone upon my breast.
BISKRA
10.15-11.52 a.m.
Flashes of lightning are playing in the Stone, at the top; and at the
bottom of the Stone there is a black pyramid, and at the top thereof is a
vesica piscis. The vesica piscis is of colourless brilliance.
The two curves of Pisces are thus:
{Illustration on page 156 described:
The Pisces sign without the cross-line. In Essence ") (", but larger with
thick curves.}
They are the same curves as the curves of vesica piscis, but turned round.
And a voice comes: How can that which is buried in the pyramids behold that
which descendeth unto its apex?
Again it comes to me, without voice: Therefore is motherhood the symbol of
the Masters. For first they must give up their virginity to be destroyed, and
the seed must lie hidden in them until the nine moons wax and wane, and they
must surround it with the Universal Fluid. And they must feed it with blood
for fire. Then is the child a living thing. And afterwards is much suffering
and much joy, and after that are they torn asunder, and this is all their
thank, that they give it to suck.
All this while the vision in the Shew-Stone stays as it was, save that the
lightning grows more vehement and clear; {156} and behind the vesica piscis is
a black cross extending to the top and to the edges of the Stone. And now
blackness spreads, and swallows up the images.
Now there is naught but a vast black triangle having the apex downwards,
and in the centre of the black triangle is the face of Typhon, the Lord of the
Tempest, and he crieth aloud: Despair! Despair! For thou mayest deceive the
Virgin, and thou mayest cajole the Mother; but what wilt thou say unto the
ancient Whore that is throned in Eternity? For if she will not, there is
neither force nor cunning, nor any wit, that may prevail upon her.
Thou canst not woo her with love, for she "is" love. And she hath all, and
hath no need of thee.
And thou canst not woo her with gold, for all the Kings and captains of the
earth, and all the gods of heaven, have showered their gold upon her. Thus
hath she all, and hath no need of thee.
And thou canst not woo her with knowledge, for knowledge is the thing that
she hath spurned. She hath it all, and hath no need of thee.
And thou canst not woo her with wit, for her Lord is Wit. She hath it all,
and hath no need of thee. Despair! Despair!
Nor canst thou cling to her knees and ask for pity; nor canst thou cling to
her heart and ask for love; nor canst thou put thine arms about her neck, and
ask for understanding; for thou hast all these, and they avail thee not.
Despair! Despair!
Then I took the Flaming Sword, and I let it loose against Typhon, so that
his head was cloven asunder, and the black triangle dissolved in lightnings.
{157}
But as he parted his voice broke out again: Nor canst thou win her with the
Sword, for her eyes are fixed upon the eyes of Him in whose hand is the hilt
of the Sword. Despair! Despair!
And the echo of that cry was his word, which is identical, although it be
diverse: Nor canst thou win her by the Serpent, for it was the Serpent that
seduced her first. Despair! Despair!
(Yet he cried thus as he fled:)
I am Leviathan, the great Lost Serpent of the Sea. I writhe eternally in
torment, and I lash the ocean with my tail into a whirlpool of foam that is
vemonous and bitter, and I have no purpose. I go no whither. I can neither
live nor die. I can but rave and rave in my death agony. I am the Crocodile
that eateth up the children of men. And through the malice of BABALON I
hunger, hunger, hunger.
All this while the Stone is more inert than ever yet; a thousand times more
lifeless than when it is not invoked. Now, when it kindles, it only kindles
into its physical beauty. And now upon the face of it is a great black Rose,
each of whose petals, though it be featureless, is yet a devil-face. And all
the stalks are the black snakes of hell. It is alive, this Rose; a single
thought informs it. It comes to clutch, to murder. Yet, because a single
thought alone informs it, I have hope therein.
I think the Rose has a hundred and fifty-six petals, and though it be
black, it has the luminous blush.
There it is, in the midst of the Stone, and I cannot see anyone who wears
it.
Aha! Aha! Aha! Shut out the sight!
Holy, Holy, Holy art thou! {158}
Light, Life and Love are like three glow-worms at thy feet: the whole
universe of stars, the dewdrops on the grass whereon thou walkest!
I am quite blind.
Thou art Nuit! Strain, strain, strain my whole soul!
A ka dua
Tuf ur biu
Bi a'a chefu
Dudu ner af an nuteru.
Falutli! Falutli!
I cling unto the burning Aethyr like Lucifer that fell through the Abyss,
and by the fury of his flight kindled the air.
And I am Belial, for having seen the Rose upon thy breast, I have denied
God.
And I am Satan! I am Satan! I am cast out upon a burning crag! And the
sea boils about the desolation thereof. And already the vultures gather, and
feast upon my flesh.
Yea! Before thee all the most holy is profane, O thou desolator of
shrines! O thou falsifier of the oracles of truth! Ever as I went, hath it
been thus. The truth of the profane was the falsehood of the Neophyte, and
the truth of the Neophyte was the falsehood of the Zelator! Again and again
the the fortress must be battered down! Again and again the pylon must be
overthrown! Again and again must the gods be desecrated!
And now I lie supine before thee, in terror and abasement. O Purity! O
Truth! What shall I say? My tongue cleaveth to my jaws, O thou Medusa that
hast turned me to stone! Yet is that stone the stone of the philosophers.
Yet is that tongue Hadit. {159}
Aha! Aha!
Yea! Let me take the form of Hadit before thee, and sing:
A ka dua
Tuf ur biu
Bi a'a chefu
Dudu ner af an nuteru.
Nuit! Nuit! How art thou manifested in this place! This is a Mystery
ineffable. And it is mine, and I can never reveal it either to God or to man.
It is for thee and me !
Aha! Aha!
A ka dua
Tuf ur biu
Bi a'a chefu
Dudu ner af an nuteru.
. . . My spirit is no more; my soul is no more. My life leaps out into
annihilation!
A ka dua
Tuf ur biu
Bi a'a chefu
Dudu ner af an nuteru.
It is the cry of my body! Save me! I have come too close. I have come
too close to that which may not be endured. It must awake, the body; it must
assert itself.
It must shut out the Aethyr, or else it is dead.
Every pulse aches, and beats furiously. Every nerve stings like a serpent.
And my skin is icy cold.
Neither God nor man can penetrate the Mystery of the Aethyr.
(Here the Seer mutters unintelligibly.)
And even that which understandeth cannot hear its voice. For to the
profane the voice of the Neophyte is called silence, {160} and to the Neophyte
the voice of the Zelator is called silence. And so ever is it.
Sight is fire, and is the first angle of the Tablet; spirit is hearing, and
is the centre thereof; thou, therefore, who art all spirit and fire, and hast
no duller elements in thy star; thou art come to sight at the end of thy will.
And if thou wilt hear the voice of the Aethyr, do thou invoke it in the night,
having no other light but the light of the half moon. Then mayest thou hear
the voice, though it may be that thou understandeth it not. Yet shall it be a
potent spell, whereby thou mayest lay bare the womb of thy understanding to
the violence of CHAOS.
Now, therefore, for the last time, let the veil of the Aethyr be torn.
Aha! Aha! Aha! Aha! Aha! Aha! Aha!
A ka dua
Tuf ur biu
Bi a'a chefu
Dudu ner af an nuteru.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
This Aethyr must be left unfinished then until the half moon.
HAMMAM SALAHIN.
"December" 18, 1909 3.10 - 4.25 p.m.
An olvah nu arenu olvah. Diraeseu adika va paretanu poliax poliax in vah
rah ahum subre fifal. Lerthexanax. Mama ra-la hum fifala maha.
All this is the melody of a flute, very faint and clear. And there is a
sort of sub-tinkle of a bell. {161}
And there is a string instrument, somewhat like a zither. And there is a
human voice.
And the voice comes: this is the Song of the Sphinx, which she singeth ever
in the ears of men.
And it is the song of the syrens. And whoever heareth it is lost.
I III
Mu pa telai, O chi balae
Tu wa melai Wa pa malae: --
A, a, a Ut! Ut! Ut!
Tu fu tulu! Ge; fu latrai,
Tu fu tulu Le fu malai
Pa, Sa, Ga. Kut! -- Hut! -- Nut.
II IV
Qwi Mu telai AI OAI
Ya Pa melai; Rel moai
u, u, u. Ti -- Ti -- Ti!
'Se gu melai; Wa la pelai
Pe fu telai, Tu fu latai
Fu tu lu. Wi, Ni, Bi.
"Translation of Song."
I
Silence! the moon ceaseth (her motion),
That also was sweet
In the air, in the air, in the air!
Who Will shall attain!
Who Will shall attain
By the Moon, and by Myself, and by the Angel of the Lord!
II
Now Silence ceaseth
And the moon waxeth sweet;
(It is the hour of) Initiation, Initiation, Initiation.
The kiss of Isis is honeyed;
My own Will is ended,
For Will hath attained. {162}
III
Behold the lion-child swimmeth (in the heaven)
And the moon reeleth: --
(It is) Thou! (It is) Thou! (It is) Thou!
Triumph; the Will stealeth away (like a thief),
The Strong Will that staggered
Before Ra Hoor Khuit! -- Hadit! -- Nuit!
IV
To the God OAI
Be praise
In the end and the beginning!
And may none fall
Who Will attain
The Sword, the Balances, the Crown!
And that which thou hearest is but the dropping of the dew from my limbs,
for I dance in the night, naked upon the grass, in shadowy places, by running
streams.
Many are they who have loved the nymphs of the woods, and of the wells, and
of the fountains, and of the hills. And of these some were nympholept. For
it was not a nymph, but I myself that walked upon the earth taking my
pleasure. So also there were many images of Pan, and men adored them, and as
a beautiful god he made their olives bear double and their vines increase; but
some were slain by the god, for it was I that had woven the garlands about
him.
Now cometh a song.
So sweet is this song that no one could resist it. For in it is all the
passionate ache for the moonlight, and the great hunger of the sea, and the
terror of desolate places, --- all things that lure men to the unattainable.
{163}
Omari tessala marax,
tessala dodi phornepax.
amri radara poliax
armana piliu.
amri radara piliu son';
mari narya barbiton
madara anaphax sarpedon
andala hriliu.
"Translation."
I am the harlot that shaketh Death.
This shaking giveth the Peace of Satiate Lust.
Immortality jetteth from my skull,
And music from my vulva.
Immortality jetteth from my vulva also,
For my Whoredom is a sweet scent like a seven-stringed instrument,
Played unto God the Invisible, the all-ruler,
That goeth along giving the shrill scream of orgasm.
Every man that hath seen me forgetteth me never, and I appear oftentimes in
the coals of the fire, and upon the smooth white skin of woman, and in the
constancy of the waterfall, and in the emptiness of deserts and marshes, and
upon great cliffs that look seaward; and in many strange places, where men
seek me not. And many thousand times he beholdeth me not. And at last I
smite myself into him as a vision smiteth into a stone, and whom I call must
follow.
Now I perceive myself standing in a Druid circle, in an immense open plain.
A whole series of beautiful visions of deserts and sunsets and islands in
the sea, green beyond imagination . . . . But there is no subsistence in
them.
A voice goes on: this is the holiness of fruitless love and aimless toil.
For in doing the thing for the things's sake is concentration, and this is the
holiest of them that suit not {164} the means to the end. For therein is
faith and sympathy and a knowledge of the true Magick.
Oh my beloved, that fliest in the air like a dove, beware of the falcon! oh
my beloved, that springest upon the earth like a gazelle, beware of the lion!
There are hundreds of visions, trampling over one another. In each one the
Angel of the Aethyr is mysteriously hidden.
Now I will describe the Angel of the Aethyr until the voice begins again.
He is like one's idea of Sappho and Calypso, and all seductive and deadly
things; heavy eye-lids, long lashes, a face like ivory, wonderful barbaric
jewellery, intensely red lips, a very small mouth, tiny ears, a Grecian face.
Over the shoulders is a black robe with a green collar; the robe is spangled
with golden stars; the tunic is a pure soft blue.
Now the whole Aethyr is swallowed up in a forest of unquenchable fire, and
fearlessly through it all a show-white eagle flies. And the eagle cries: the
house also of death. Come away! The volume of the book is open, the Angel
waiteth without, for the summer is at hand. Come away! For the Aeon is
measured, and thy span allotted. Come away! For the mighty sounds have
entered into every angle. And they have awakened the Angels of the Aethyrs
that slept these three hundred years.
For in the Holy letter Shin, that is the Resurrection in the Book of Thoth,
that is the Holy Spirit in the Trinity, that is three hundred in the tale of
the years, hath the tomb been opened, so that this great wisdom might be
revealed.
Come away! For the Second Triad is completed, and there remaineth only the
Lord of the Aeon, the Avenger, the Child {165} both Crowned and Conquering,
the Lord of the Sword and the Sun, the Babe in the Lotus, pure from his birth,
the Child of suffering, the Father of justice, unto whom be the glory
throughout all the Aeon!24
Come away! For that which was to be accomplished is accomplished, seeing
that thou hadst faith unto the end of all.
In the letter N the Voice of the Aethyr is ended.
BISKRA, ALGERIA.
"December" 20, 1909. 8.35 - 9.15 p.m.
THE CRY OF THE 1ST AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED LIL
First, let praise and worship and honour and glory and great thank be given
unto the Holy One, who hath permitted us to come thus far, who hath revealed
unto us the ineffable mysteries, that they might be disclosed before men. And
we humbly beseech His infinite goodness that he will be pleased to manifest
unto us even the Mystery of the First Aethyr.
(Here followeth the Call of the Aethyr.)
The veil of the Aethyr is like the veil of night, dark azure, full of
countless stars. And because the veil is infinite, at first one seeth not the
winged globe of the sun that burneth in the centre thereof. Profound peace
filleth me, --- beyond ecstasy, beyond thought, beyond being itself, IAIDA.
(This word means "I am", but in a sense entirely beyond being.)
("Note." --- In Hebrew letters it adds to 26. In Hebrew letters the name of
the Aethyr is 70, ayin; but by turning the {166} Yetziratic attributions of
the letters into Hebrew, it gives 66, and 66 is the sum of the numbers from 0
to 11.)
Yes; there is peace. There is no "tendency" of any sort, much less any
observation or feeling or impression. There is only a faint consciousness,
like the scent of jasmine.
The body of the Seer is rested in a waking sleep that is deeper than sleep,
and his mind is still; he seems like a well in the desert, shaded by windless
palms.
And it is night; and because the night is the whole night of space, and not
the partial night of earth, there is no thought of dawn. For the light of the
Sun maketh illusion, blinding man's eyes to the glory of the stars. And
unless he be in the shadow of the earth, he cannot see the stars. So, also,
unless he be hidden from the light of life, he cannot behold Nuit. Here,
then, do I abide in unalterable midnight, utterly at peace.
I have forgotten where I am, and who I am. I am hanging in nothing.
Now the veil opens of itself. (To Scribe. Come nearer; I don't want to
have to speak so loudly.)
It is a little child covered with lilies and roses. He is supported by
countless myriads of Archangels. The Archangels are all the same colourless
brilliance, and every one of them is blind. Below the Archangels again are
many, many other legions, and so on far below, so far that the eye cannot
pierce. And on his forehead, and on his heart, and in his hand, is the secret
sigil of the Beast. And of all this the glory is so great that all the
spiritual senses fail, and their reflections in the body fail.
It is very strange. In my heart is rapture, holy and ineffable, absolutely
beyond emotion; beyond even that bliss {167} called Ananda, infinitely calm
24 The Seer had absolutely forgotten this prophecy, and was amazed
at the final identification of the Child in LIL with Hoor.
and pure. Yet at the gates of mine eyes stand tears, like warriors upon the
watch, that lean on their spears, listening.25
The great and terrible Angel keeps on looking at me, as if to bar me from
the vision. There is another blinding my mind. There is another forcing my
head down in sleep.
(It's very difficult to talk at all, because an impression takes such an
immense time to travel from the will to the muscles. Naturally, I've no idea
of time.)
I have gone up again to the child, led by two Angels, abasing my head.
This child seems to be the child that one attempted to describe in "The
Garden of Janus."
Every volition is inhibited. I have tried to say a lot, but it has always
got lost on the way.
Holy art thou, O more beautiful than all the stars of the Night!
There has never been such peace, such silence. But these are "positive"
things. Singing praises of things eternal amid the flames of first glory, and
every note of every song is a fresh flower in the garland of peace.
This child danceth not, but it is because he is the soul of the two dances,
--- the right hand and the left hand, and in him they are one dance, the dance
without motion.
There is dew on all the fire. Every drop is the quintessence of the
ecstasy of stars. {168}
Yet a third time am I led to him, prostrating myself seven times at every
step. There is a perfume in the air, reflected down even to the body of the
seer. That perfume thrills his body with an ecstasy that is like love, like
sleep.
And this is the song:
I am the child of all who am the father of all, for from me come forth all
things, that I might be. I am the fountain in the snows, and I am the eternal
sea. I am the lover, and I am the beloved, and I am the first-fruits of their
love. I am the first faint shuddering of the Light, and I am the loom wherein
night weaveth her impenetrable veil.
I am the captain of the hosts of eternity; of the swordsmen and the
spearmen and the bowmen and the charioteers. I have led the armies of the
east against the armies of the west, and the armies of the west against the
armies of the east. For I am Peace.
My groves of olive were planted by an harlot, and my horses were bred by a
thief. I have trained my vines upon the spears of the Most High, and with my
laughter have I slain a thousand men.
With the wine in my cup have I mixed the lightnings, and I have carved my
bread with a sharp sword.
With my folly have I undone the wisdom of the Magus, even as with my
judgments I have overwhelmed the universe. I have eaten the pomegranate in
the House of Wrath, and I have crushed out the blood of my mother between
mill-stones to make bread.
There is nothing that I have not trampled beneath my feet. There is
nothing that I have not set a garland on my brow. I have wound all things
about my waist as a girdle. I {169} have hidden all things in the cave of my
heart. I have slain all things because I am Innocence. I have lain with all
things because I am Untouched Virginity. I have given birth to all things
because I am Death.
Stainless are my lips, for they are redder than the purple of the vine, and
of the blood wherewith I am intoxicated. Stainless is my forehead, for it is
whiter than the wind and the dew that cooleth it.
I am light, and I am night, and I am that which is beyond them.
25 There are long intervals between many of these paragraphs, the
Seer having been lost to Being. The reader will note that "The
Great and Terrible Angel" has not been mentioned, but comes in
suddenly. This was because the Seer's speech was inaudible, or
never occurred. This angel was the "Higher Genius" of the Seer.
I am speech, and I am silence, and I am that which is beyond them.
I am life, and I am death, and I am that which is beyond them.
I am war, and I am peace, and I am that which is beyond them.
I am weakness, and I am strength, and I am that which is beyond them.
Yet by none of these can man reach up to me. Yet by each of them must man
reach up to me.
Thou shalt laugh at the folly of the fool. Thou shalt learn the wisdom of
the Wise. And thou shalt be initiate in holy things. And thou shalt be
learned in the things of love. And thou shalt be mighty in the things of war.
And thou shalt be adept in things occult. And thou shalt interpret the
oracles. And thou shalt drive all these before thee in thy car, and though by
none of these canst thou reach up to me, yet by each of these must thou attain
to me. And thou must have the strength of the lion, and the secrecy of the
hermit. And thou must turn the wheel of life. And thou must hold the
balances of Truth. Thou must pass through the great Waters, a Redeemer. Thou
must have the tail of the scorpion, and {170} the poisoned arrows of the
Archer, and the dreadful horns of the Goat. And so shalt thou break down the
fortress that guardeth the Palace of the King my son. And thou must work by
the light of the Star and of the Moon and of the Sun, and by the dreadful
light of judgment that is the birth of the Holy Spirit within thee. When
these shall have destroyed the universe, then mayest thou enter the palace of
the Queen my daughter.
Blessed, blessed, blessed; yea, blessed; thrice and four times blessed is
he that hath attained to look upon thy face. For I will hurl thee forth from
my presence as a whirling thunderbolt to guard the ways, and whom thou smitest
shall be smitten indeed. And whom thou lovest shall be loved indeed. And
whether by smiting or by love thou workest, each one shall see my face, a
glimmer through a thousand veils. And they shall rise up from love's sleep or
death's, and gird themselves with a girdle of snake-skin for wisdom, and they
shall wear the white tunic of purity, and the apron of flaming orange for
will, and over their shoulders shall they cast the panther's skin of courage.
And they shall wear the nemyss of secrecy and the ateph crown of truth. And
on their feet shall they put sandals made of the skin of breasts, that they
may trample upon all they were, yet also that its toughness shall support
them, and protect their feet, as they pass upon the mystical way that lieth
through the pylons. And upon their breasts shall be the Rose and Cross of
light and life, and in their hands the hermit's staff and lamp. Thus shall
they set out upon the never-ending journey, each step of which is an
unutterable reward.
Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy; yea, thrice and four times holy {171} art thou,
because thou hast attained to look upon my face; not by my favour only, not by
thy magick only, may this be won. Yet it is written: "Unto the persevering
mortal the blessed Immortals are swift."
Mighty, mighty, mighty, mighty; yea, thrice and four times mighty art thou.
He that riseth up against thee shall be thrown down, though thou raise not so
much as thy little finger against him. And he that speaketh evil against thee
shall be put to shame, though thy lips utter not the littlest syllable against
him. And he that thinketh evil concerning thee shall be confounded in his
thought, although in thy mind arise not the least thought of him. And they
shall be brought unto subjection unto thee, and serve thee, though thou
willest it not. And it shall be unto them a grace and a sacrament, and ye
shall all sit down together at the supernal banquet, and ye shall feast upon
the honey of the gods, and be drunk upon the dew of immortality --- FOR I AM
HORUS, THE CROWNED AND CONQUERING CHILD, WHOM THOU KNEWEST NOT!
Pass thou on, therefore, O thou Prophet of the Gods, unto the Cubical Altar
of the Universe; there shalt thou receive every tribe and kingdom and nation
into the mighty Order that reacheth from the frontier fortresses that guard
the Uttermost Abyss unto My Throne.
This is the formula of the Aeon, and with that the voice of LIL, that is
the Lamp of the Invisible Light, is ended. Amen.
BISKRA, ALGERIA.
"December" 19, 1909. 1.30 - 3.30 p.m.
{172}
A COMMENT UPON THE NATURES OF THE AETHYRS.
30. Without the cube --- the material world --- is the sphere-system of the
spiritual world enfolding it. the Cry seems to be a sort of Exordium, and
external showing forth of the coming of the new Aeon, the Aeon of Horus the
crowned child.
29. The disturbance of Equilibrium caused by the Coming of the Aeon.
28. Now is a further and clearer shadowing-forth of the Great Mystery of
the Aeon which is to be led up to by the Aethyrs. Note however that the King
of the New Aeon never appears until the very first Aethyr.
27. Hecate appears --- her son, the son of a Virgin, a magus, is to bring
the Aeon to pass. And she, the herald, her function fulfilled, withdraws
within her mystic veil.
26. The death of the past Aeon, that of Jehovah and Jesus; ends with
adumbraiton of the new, the vision of the Stele of Ankh-f-n-khonsu, whose
discovery brought about in a human consciousness the knowledge of the Equinox
of the Gods, 21. 3. 04.
25. Appearance of the Lion God of Horus, the child of Leo that incarnates
him.
The first Angel is Isis its mother. {173}
24. Now appears his mate, the heavenly Venus, the Scarlet Woman, who by men
is thought of as Babalon as he is thought of as Chaos.
23. Here appear the Cherubim, the other officers of the new Temple, the
earth and water assistants of the fire and air Beast and Scarlet Woman.
22. Here is the First Key to the formula of Horus, a sevenfold arrangement.
A shadow of Horus declares his nature.
21. This seems to be the Vision of God face to face that is the necessary
ordeal for him who would pass the Abyss, as it were. A commission to be the
prophet of the Aeon arising is given to the Seer. The God is the Hierophant
in the Ceremony of Magister Templi.
20. A guide is given to the Seer, his Holy Guardian Angel. And this is
attained by a mastery of the Universe conceived as a wheel The Hiereus in the
Ceremony of Magister Templi.
19. Now cometh forth the Angel who giveth instruction, in the lowest form.
The Hegemone in the Ceremony of Magister Templi which the Seer is about to
undergo.
18. The Vault of preparation for the Ceremony of M.T.
The Veil is the Crucifixion, symbol of the dead Aeon. The first ordeal is
undergone.
17. The symbol of the Balance is now given unto the Aspirant.
{174}
16. The sacrifice is made. The High Priestess (image of Babalon) cometh
forth upon her Beast and maketh this.
15. The mystic dance by Salome. The new Temple, the signs of the grades
are received and the A.E. rejected.
14. The Shrine of Darkness. Final initiation into grade of M. T.
13. The emergence of Nemo into the world; his work therein. This is the
first mystery revealed to a M.T.
12. The Second Mystery: the cup-bearer of Babalon the beautiful. The Holy
Grail manifested to the M.T., with the first knowledge of the Black Brothers.
11. Now cometh the Frontier of the Holy City; the M.T. is taken into the
Abyss.
10. The Abyss.
9. The M.T. hath passed the Abyss, and is let to the Palace of the Virgin
redeemed from Malkuth unto Binah.
8. The fuller manifestation of the Holy Guardian Angel.
7. The Virgin become the Bride, the great Reward of the Ceremony. also an
adumbration of the Further Progress.
6. A shadowing-forth of the grade of Magus.
5. The reception of the M.T. among the Brethren of the A ∴ A ∴ the
manifestation of the Arrow.
4. Further concerning the Magus. The marriage of Chaos with the purified
Virgin.
{175}
3. The Magician. Exhibition of the Guards to the Higher Knowledge.
2. The understanding of the Curse, that is become a Blessing. The final
reward of the M.T., his marriage even with Babalon Herself. The paean
thereof.
1. The final manifestation. All leads up to the Crowned Child, Horus, the
Lord of the New Aeon.
["A further and fuller comment upon this Book is in preparation."]
{176}
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